The Red Sox announced Curt Young as their new pitching coach on Monday, and by the sounds of it, they couldn't be happier.
In a conference call following the announcement, Red Sox manager Terry Francona spoke very highly of the club's new hire, a guy that Francona got to know when he was the bench coach in Oakland.
"It was pretty obvious John Farrell was going to get a chance to manage, so I looked at internal and external canddiates throughout the game, and I asked John Farrell to do the same," Francona explained on the call, according to The Boston Globe. "We both came up with Curt as the No. 1 choice for the Boston Red Sox."
Young, who spent the last seven seasons at the pitching coach for the Oakland Athletics, comes in to replace Farrell, who recently accepted a managerial job with the Toronto Blue Jays.
"This was an important hire. Losing John Farrell was a big deal. Getting Curt Young was a big deal," Francona said.
For Young, the new opportunity marks the chance to go from working with a young, developing staff in Oakland, to overseeing a veteran group of established pitchers in Boston.
"They've been successful with what they're doing," Young said of the Boston staff. "I will bring suggestions of things that may help these guys get better. Mainly, it's coming in and learning what these guys have been doing on a daily basis, what they do between starts, what the relievers do and make sure we get into a good routine that helps them get ready for games."
