I'm not sure exactly how this will affect the Red Sox, quantifying the impact of coaches is a very tricky proposition, but I know that losing someone of Farrell's caliber isn't going to help. It'll be interesting to see if they look to someone outside of the organization. According to Peter Gammons, the Sox recognize this as a big hole and "very worried" about losing Farrell.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Replacing John Farrell
Although it isn't completely official yet, Red Sox owner John Henry makes it clear that current pitching coach John Farrell is heading north to Toronto to manage the Blue Jays. This is a pretty big loss, in my opinion. Despite the struggles of the rotation this year, Farrell is one of the best regarded pitching coaches in baseball and has done an excellent job developing talent in Boston (Lester, Buchholz, Papelbon, Bard) as well as in Cleveland, where he was the director of player development from 2001 to 2006, when stars like Victor Martinez, CC Sabathia, and Cliff Lee came up. His name had been mentioned for many other job openings in the past, but I guess the Toronto job was too good to pass up.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Rumors have the Sox at least seriously considering Curt Young, who was the A's pitching coach for the past 6 seasons. Young, who chose not to re-sign with the A's, despite being offered a pretty hefty raise, is considered to be one of the better pitching coaches out there. He certainly has done a good job over the past few seasons with the A's pitching staff, and looks to be a strong replacement for Farrell.
ReplyDeleteCurt Young would be a nice addition to the staff. It always seems like the A's are able to get a lot out of marginal starting pitchers. He's an established pitching coach, so there isn't as much risk there as there would be going with a more unknown guy. If they feel Young is a guy who can really make a difference, there is no reason not to extend their financial advantages into getting good coaches too.
ReplyDelete