John Farrell is like the ex we have to keep our eyes on.
It was a five year relationship that started off really great despite his flaws (when he blew games and the Red Sox still won the 2013 World Series)--and it took most of y’all a really long time to realize he was not a great in-game manager. I take pride knowing I didn’t like him in 2013, but shame thinking he was fine in 2017. Like a relationship, there was also the time away from him where a great one came along (Torey Lovullo), but he got away. It’s whatever. Now we must move on.
The Cincinnati Reds are not a good MLB team this year. They fired Bryan Price because that clearly wasn’t going well, so now they need a new manager. There’s a very good chance Farrell gets the job, in my opinion.
Farrell is already in the Reds organization working in minor league development. We know he isn’t very good with young players and all that, so why would they hire him in the first place? Do they really think he’s good at communicating with young players? OR… did they want an MLB-caliber manager in their organization in case all else failed?
They didn’t add Joe Girardi to their organization. They didn’t put Barry Larkin there. They didn’t put anyone else there. They put Farrell, who led the Red Sox to back-to-back first place finishes there.
On paper, Farrell has a good resume and in the standings the Reds look like they could be desperate. It wouldn’t be a shock to see them hire him, even if we have our reservations.
My biggest concern with him is the old double switch in the National League. If a team isn’t careful, they might end up with Brandon Workman hitting.