Boston Red Sox: John Farrell To Return in 2016
By DJ Smith
The Boston Red Sox informed John Farrell, who has been battling Stage 1 Lymphoma since early August, that he would return to manage in 2016. Team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski informed Farrell of the teams intentions for 2016 while also announcing that current interim manager Torrey Louvuluo would return to the team as well.
"“The commitment’s made to John, he’ll be our manager for 2016, he should be fine,” Dombrowski said in a team statement."
Obviously there was a lot of chatter among fans about whether the Red Sox should bring Farrell back in 2016, aside from 2013 when he won 97 games and clinched the World Series his past two years have been underwhelming. Since 2013 Farrell has gone 149-174 in two years and in a market like Boston where making the playoffs is the expectation, fans have voiced their displeasure and called for his firing.
But then he was diagnosed with cancer in the middle of August and has been battling since then. Now, baseball is a business and sometimes you have to do what’s best for the team even if it means letting a good guy go (see Orsillo, Don). But firing Farrell after he is finishing up his cancer treatment is about as cold as it could get, so its good to see the Sox actually do have a heart.
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Looking at the overall makeup of this team you could make the argument that Farrell has done the best with what’s available. Former General Manager Ben Cherington didn’t give Farrell a lot of tools to work with the past 2 years, his biggest splash was bringing in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval two guys with some serious baggage.
So, while I am happy that John Farrell is going to remain with the club in 2016, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a short leash next season. You have to think that Dombrowski and Red Sox General Manager Mike Hazen will make some free agent splashes during the offseason and if the team continues to struggle, I wouldn’t be surprised if Farrell is let go.
Sunday was the official end of the 2015 Red Sox season, but for Dave Dombrowski and Mike Hazen it was was also the beginning of the offseason and the start to rebuilding this team.
Next: Boston Red Sox: Five Free Agents to Target