The Boston Red Sox have some decisions to make this offseason, but finding a new manager isn’t one of them.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made sure of that Tuesday, announcing that John Farrell and his coaching staff will return in 2017. It’s clear Farrell has the support of the Red Sox’s brass after the team won 93 games this season, and that support goes up the line of command. In an interview with WEEI’s midday radio show, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy gave Farrell his own vote of confidence.
“I think he’s the right guy to continue to lead this franchise,” Kennedy said, via WEEI.com.
The pressure still will be on Farrell as he prepares for his fifth year in Boston, though. The Red Sox’s sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series left a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths, and the team still hasn’t won a playoff game since winning the World Series in 2013.
Farrell’s future beyond 2017 also remains unclear, as the Red Sox haven’t yet discussed whether they’ll pick up his 2018 club option, per Kennedy.
“Dave (Dombrowski) will make a recommendation to ownership, and I have a seat at that table,” Kennedy said. “We’ll talk about that in the coming days, to be sure. (Dombrowski) knew he was going to get that question (about Farrell’s future) (Tuesday), again, right after a tough loss, and just wanted to address what we all knew, which was John will be back next year.
“(Dombrowski) will sit down and talk with us, specifically (principal owner) John Henry and (team chairman) Tom Werner, about a lot of these operations issues that we’re facing now in the immediate aftermath of going out in the postseason, including John Farrell’s option.
“So, that will be discussed. But there’s a lot of other decisions that have to be made as well. Some will be recommendations from Dave, and some will just be firm decisions that he’s empowered to make on his own.”
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
