Sox Fire Farrell, What Next?
So who will be the new manager of the Boston Red Sox? John Farrell was fired Wednesday morning after a 93-69 season and an AL East Championship to go with it. You might say “Oh well they won the AL East, and had a 90-win season. That’s pretty good, why is this guy being fired?” Well, I’ll tell you why. Because the Sox didn’t win a World Series, they won just one playoff game in the past four years.
President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said the firing “wasn’t because they lost in the postseason.” To me, I can see why he said this. You can’t just fire a guy cause your team went 1-6 in the postseason. But honestly with a club like the Cincinnati Reds or the San Diego Padres I would be like, “Wow why would you do that?” But this is the Boston Red Sox, the people of Boston want championships and they want them now. 1-6 in the postseason for the past four years isn’t gonna help you towards a championship. Dombrowski was right when saying “A change was needed.”
The big question here is: Who will be John Farrell’s successor? Dombrowski said he has some guys in mind and on a list to take over as the next manager of the Red Sox, he also has said he would like to find a replacement “as soon as possible.” Let’s take a look at some of the possible candidates to take over Farrell’s job.
Alex Cora:
Cora is supposedly the front runner for this job as of now. Cora played with Boston from 2005-2008. He’s pretty young for a manager, he is only 41 and is currently the bench coach for the Houston Astros, in which he has received very good remarks from manager A.J. Hinch. Unfortunately Cora won’t be able to participate in interviews until the Astros are eliminated from postseason play. Honestly I think Cora is the most popular candidate for this job, and a big fan favorite.
Brad Ausmus:
Ausmus was just fired by executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager of the Detroit Tigers, Al Avila. Dombrowski hired Ausmus when he was in Detroit and gave him his first Major League job. Honestly I’m not huge on Ausmus, definitely not my first choice. This year he kinda had a huge temper towards the end of the season with umpires, I don't know if that is because his team (the Detroit Tigers) were the worst in baseball or not but still.
Ron Gardenhire:
Gardenhire has a lot of managing experience with the Minnesota Twins and has had a lot of success. Gardenhire is another one that’s definitely not my first choice but he wouldn’t be so awful. Obviously a lot of experience, his big strength would be in the clubhouse.
Gary DiSarcina:
Dombrowski has said he won’t hire someone from the current coaching staff, but DiSarcina would have to be the top candidate. DiSarcina has managed with the Angels and in the Red Sox minor league teams, and was well respected there.
Jason Varitek: Varitek was a huge leader in the Red Sox clubhouse for years. Although he has no managing experience he was interviewed by the Seattle Mariners job a few years ago. My only concern with him, is that i’m not totally sure he’s ready, I’d like to see him with one of the Red Sox minor league teams first.
