It is no longer a rumor. The other finalists have been told that Farrell is Alex Anthopoulos' choice for manager. Barring some sort of breakdown during contract negotiations he will have the job.
I'm not sure what that means for our current coaches. I'm sure the Jays will be offering Brian Butterfield a job on the coaching staff, I would guess as bench coach. Whether he'll accept is another thing. I know he loves working for the Blue Jays and likes working with the our players. I'm also sure the the Orioles would love to have him, as would several other teams.
I think Farrell would be crazy not to keep Bruce Walton as pitching coach, but since Farrell has been pitching coach for the Red Sox, the last 4 years, he might have other ideas. I think it is anyone's guess if Dwayne Murphy will be back. It is safe to bet that Nick Leyva won't be back.
Farrell likely has some people in mind for some of the coaching jobs. You can't be in baseball as long as he has without making friends.
Farrell was a pitcher in the major leagues for 8 seasons. He spent his first 4 seasons with Cleveland, from 1987 to 1990 and had the best season of his career in 1988, going 14-10 with a 4.23 ERA. He missed a couple of years with an elbow injury, then played bits and pieces of the four seasons from 1993 to 1996. His career numbers are 36-46 with a 4.56 ERA in 116 games.
Farrell worked for Oklahoma State University as Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator from 1997 to 2001. From there he went to the Indians working as the Director of Player Development from 2001 to 2006. Since then he has been pitching coach for the Red Sox.
No where in his resume does it say 'manager' but he has been around the game for a long time. I'm not a big fan of 'on the job training' at the manager league level for managers. I think having some experience, at least in the minors, would be a good thing. Then again we gave Cito the job, the first time around, with no experience at manager and that turned out ok. Cito was a hitting coach, so maybe it is time to try a pitching coach.
I would have given Brian Butterfield the job or, at least, would have picked someone with some experience as a manager.Butterfield has been with the team since 2003. I'm a big fan of rewarding people that have been loyal to the team. Add in that Butterfield is liked and respected by the players and knows everyone and it only makes sense to me to give him shot. And he is a good guy. But I'll trust that Alex knows what he is doing.
Farrell is well thought of in baseball. The Red Sox are a very well run organization. He did a great job with the Red Sox pitchers. That they are going to be scrambling to replace him really doesn't hurt my feelings. Since he was in player development I'd expect he would have less resistance to using young guys like J.P. Arencibia and Travis Snider than Cito. That will be important in the next couple of years.
So I'm not thrilled but Alex hasn't made many missteps so far, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here. But I'd really like to know what sort of manager Farrell is, before handing him the job. If we end of leading the league in sacrifice bunts and he turns Jose Bautista into a slap hitter, I won't be happy.
Congratulations John, I hope you have a long successful stint as manager with the Jays and that you lead us back to the playoffs.