Plenty of eyes will be on the Boston Red Sox this offseason. Will they make a run at a middle-of-the-order bat? If they’re out on Giancarlo Stanton, which other sluggers are in play?
But no matter what the Red Sox do between now and next March, they’ll be well-positioned for 2018 — according to their former manager, anyway.
John Farrell made the rounds on MLB Network on Wednesday in his first public media appearance since Boston let him go in October. Farrell had a lot of success with the Red Sox despite taking occasional criticism, and he believes new manager Alex Cora is set up nicely to continue that success.
“It’s a stacked team as it stands today,” Farrell said on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” show, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “Alex Cora is inheriting a very good team with a lot of expectations — that’s the norm there. It will be interesting to see how things unfold.”
Farrell, who is unemployed as of Wednesday despite interviewing for a few managerial openings, also was asked if it was difficult to accept being fired after leading Boston to back-to-back 93-win seasons.
“In some ways, yes,” Farrell replied, “because I felt we — as a team, as an organization, as a coaching staff, we were proud of the number of accomplishments that we had there, including what you saw in 2013 and back-to-back championships in the (American League) East the last couple of years.
“But hey, every situation has a shelf life and a change was made. I respect the change that did take place.”
Cora will have a good amount of talent to work with — Mitch Moreland, Chris Young and Eduardo Nunez are the only notable position players hitting free agency, and the starting rotation remains intact — but as Farrell well knows, managing in Boston is no easy task.
“It’s no doubt going to be the scrutiny and that’s going to have varying degrees depending on the city,” Farrell said. “Coming out of five years in which there might have been the most scrutiny on a team, on an individual player or a manager, and that’s Boston.
“But that’s also what draws people to those places. The expectation is high and the ability to win is there every single year. And if that’s not in your DNA, if that’s not what you aspire to do — and that’s to win — then maybe those places aren’t for you.”
