Thoughts On John Farrell's Exit

We've had over night to think about it, where are we on Farrell's departure? Several thoughts:

• Clearly, with the benefit of hindsight, hiring Farrell was a mistake. And, perhaps, Farrell signing with us was a mistake on his part. Being fair, Alex Anthopoulos and Farrell couldn't see into the future to find out that the Red Sox would fire the manager that led them to their first (and second) World Series wins since early in the 1900's. You had to figure Francona would be around for several years. Still, clearly, a mistake was made.
• I very much doubt Adam Lind will be part of the deal. people read too much into a throwaway line from Bob Elliot. When the guy says 'don't be surprised' it means he is speculating. It was a reasonable guess, but just a guess. Sometimes guesses are wrong.
• I think this puts the last nail in the 'Alex as genius' coffin. I mean, he was in a tough spot and all, but he didn't get an amazing return for Farrell. Between this, the Happ trade and the Lincoln trade, I think we can go stop thinking Alex can do magic.
• On the Alex as genius side, I'm kind of hoping that he got something in the deal saying that John can't take his coaches with him. Or he can only take particular coaches with him. I'd hate to lose Butterfield, and a few of the others, with Farrell. But I know it would be tough to stop, as coach are generally signed to one year contracts and, as such, are free agents. Still I'd hate to lose particular coaches, though I'd imagine who ever the new manager turns out to be, he'll have some people he'll want to bring in with him.
• If we do lose Butterfield, I will learn to hate him.
• Mike Aviles? Well, he'd be ok at second base. I don't think great, but he fills the spot for now. If we find someone better (Scutaro please), then Aviles would make a much better utility player than we had last year. I would have preferred a prospect with some upside.
• As for Farrell, I think he is and will continue to be a good manager. He does a lot of things I like. Doesn't bunt much, doesn't order intentional walks a lot. I also liked that he was willing to try things like over-shifts and some of the other stranger moves. I can't imagine Lawrie in shallow RF with Cito as manager. Yeah, we had differences in lineup choices, but really, once Bautista, Arencibia, Lawrie and all went down, there was no good order to build. We'll always disagree on lineups. I do think that if he wanted to go, the Jays were best off to let him.
• That said, there is only so much a manager can do. No one would have lead this year's Blue Jays to the playoffs.
• I'm thinking Sandy Alomar, Jr will be the choice and I hope he'll be named quickly. I do worry about him bringing Roberto, because I think that would be the chance of there being a bit of a circus around him, but we'll see. If not him, there are several other good choices: Butterfield, Fasano, Lovullo are all decent in house choices. There are unending outside choices. No it won't be Paul Molitor or Pat Hentgen, to name two I've seen talked about on twitter. Hire someone quick and let's get on with the season. Course, does Alex do anything quick?
• I would like to see some comment from the Blue Jays. Something. Anything. I really think the Jays don't use the media as well as they might. Red Sox? They use the media like pros. They get the media working for them. They have a story they want out, they get it out.

The good news is that, after we get all the details on this, we can get to the work of filling the holes in the roster and life can go back to, what we laughingly refer to as, normal.