Jon Lester Tweets Welcome to New Manager John Farrell, Says He’s Excited ‘To Get Back to Work’

One of the main reasons the Red Sox pursued John Farrell to be their next manager was because of the connections Farrell had formed as Boston's pitching coach a couple of years ago.

Farrell worked closely with pitchers and other Red Sox players in his first stint in Boston. The team hopes Farrell will build on those relationships as he takes over in Boston this year and helps the team rebound from a 93-loss season.

One player who worked closely with Farrell before — pitcher Jon Lester — appeared ready to get going the moment Farrell was hired.

Lester had a rough year last season, going 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA and 166 strikeouts, easily the worst year of his career. He'll be looking to return to his 2008-2011 form, during which he went 65-32 with an average of 196 strikeouts per season and an ERA that never rose above 3.47, as his pitching coach for much of that time returns as his manager.