Referendum on John Farrell

[Slasher9]

Willis should be gone. change for change sake at the very least. send a flippin' message.....

[georom4]

There is lot's of speculation on the airwaves about his firing...I think the Sox will have to be close to ten games out before the move is made imo. I can't see DD blowing up the team if they have a 5-4 homestand.

[Bellhorn04]

The baserunning gaffes just keep on coming.

[Elktonnick]

Everyone on the planet, knew that once the rain started Wright would have command issues with his knuckleball. Does the braindead manager of the Boston Red Sox prepare by having some one warming in the pen, no he does not. Remy, O'Brien said before the game to expect control issues with Wright if it started to rain. After the sixth they quite rightly said Farrell would be second guessed for his failure to have some one ready in the pen. The sixth inning is yet one more example why Dombrowski shouldn't wait any longer and give Farrell his walking papers. The man is just over his head as a field manager.

[Kimmi]

Everyone on the planet, knew that once the rain started Wright would have command issues with his knuckleball. Does the braindead manager of the Boston Red Sox prepare by having some one warming in the pen, no he does not. Remy, O'Brien said before the game to expect control issues with Wright if it started to rain. After the sixth they quite rightly said Farrell would be second guessed for his failure to have some one ready in the pen. The sixth inning is yet one more example why Dombrowski shouldn't wait any longer and give Farrell his walking papers. The man is just over his head as a field manager.

 

I agree that Farrell should have pulled Wright a couple of batters earlier. To be fair though, during the coaching visit to the mound, Willis told Wright to stick with the knuckleball, not to throw the fastball. Vazquez and Wright decided to deviate from that plan. Wright throwing the fastball in that situation was far too predictable.

[Bellhorn04]

I agree that Farrell should have pulled Wright a couple of batters earlier. To be fair though, during the coaching visit to the mound, Willis told Wright to stick with the knuckleball, not to throw the fastball. Vazquez and Wright decided to deviate from that plan. Wright throwing the fastball in that situation was far too predictable.

 

This might also be further evidence of disconnection between the players and Farrell and his coaches.

[a700hitter]

I agree that Farrell should have pulled Wright a couple of batters earlier. To be fair though, during the coaching visit to the mound, Willis told Wright to stick with the knuckleball, not to throw the fastball. Vazquez and Wright decided to deviate from that plan. Wright throwing the fastball in that situation was far too predictable.

Pitchers just yes pitching coaches to death. The major league pitches that I have met and talked to at length really had very little regard for the help provided to them by their MLB pitching coaches.

 

Farrell has to know that this guy can't throw his bread and butter knuckleball when it rains. Idiot Willis tells him to throw his knuckleball in the pouring rain. Willis leaves the mound and Wright says to himself. I can't grip the kuckler in this weather. It is going to tumble out of my hand and come across the plate at 70 mph like a sitting duck. That is if I don't throw it to the backstop. The only chance is have is with the FB in a good location. Score 5-4.

 

What Willis did was as helpful as going to the mound clapping his handsand saying lets get out of this when everyone in the ballpark and on TV knew that he should have been removed.

[Bellhorn04]

Any way you look at it, there is an aura of buffoonery about the team lately.

[a700hitter]

Any way you look at it, there is an aura of buffoonery about the team lately.

I am trying to get the term boobery to catch on.

[Spudboy]

[Kimmi]

This might also be further evidence of disconnection between the players and Farrell and his coaches.

 

Thinking about this earlier, it seems that by stating this to the press, Farrell was attempting to pass the blame from himself to Wright. That is not like Farrell, and it's not a very wise thing for a manager to do. He may be feeling a lot more heat than we are aware of.

[Kimmi]

Pitchers just yes pitching coaches to death. The major league pitches that I have met and talked to at length really had very little regard for the help provided to them by their MLB pitching coaches.

 

Farrell has to know that this guy can't throw his bread and butter knuckleball when it rains. Idiot Willis tells him to throw his knuckleball in the pouring rain. Willis leaves the mound and Wright says to himself. I can't grip the kuckler in this weather. It is going to tumble out of my hand and come across the plate at 70 mph like a sitting duck. That is if I don't throw it to the backstop. The only chance is have is with the FB in a good location. Score 5-4.

 

What Willis did was as helpful as going to the mound clapping his handsand saying lets get out of this when everyone in the ballpark and on TV knew that he should have been removed.

 

I don't really disagree with any of this, but I'm also thinking that if your coach/manager tells you to throw the knuckleball, you throw the knuckleball. I'm not necessarily saying that that was the right call, though I think it was, but a player should do what his manager tells him to do.

[cp176]

Unless people here really do know something that some people here do not, Farrell still has the respect and concern of this baseball team. Is there reason to fire him? Possibly I think simply because he is not all that great at what he is supposed to do. Maybe a change would help - maybe it wouldn't. Louvello is a younger version of John Farrell. This is on the players for the most part. A change from Farrell to Louvello is a change for change sake. Good luck with that but if DD goes out and gets the pitchers somehow that we need to have everything will be just fine. If he doesn't, what we have won't all of a sudden start to perform better than they ever have before.

[Spudboy]

Unless people here really do know something that some people here do not, Farrell still has the respect and concern of this baseball team. Is there reason to fire him? Possibly I think simply because he is not all that great at what he is supposed to do. Maybe a change would help - maybe it wouldn't. Louvello is a younger version of John Farrell. This is on the players for the most part. A change from Farrell to Louvello is a change for change sake. Good luck with that but if DD goes out and gets the pitchers somehow that we need to have everything will be just fine. If he doesn't, what we have won't all of a sudden start to perform better than they ever have before.

 

Quoted for overall excellence.

[Elktonnick]

The sixth inning of last night's game was not on the players but solely on Farrell and his pitching coach. Everyone and I mean everyone knew that Wright can not command the knuckleball in the rain. At the start of the sixth inking Farrell should have had some one warming up in the bullpen not because Wright was struggling at that time but because it was raining. Instead Farrell waits until Wright lost total command of the knuckleball. Any one watching the game would have seen it wasn't a case of the pitch knuckling out of the strike zone but rather Wright wasn't able to keep his grip on the ball. So then the dim wit sends his even slower witted pitching coach out there to tell Wright to keep throwing the knuckleball, a pitch he wasn't able to literally get a grip on. Weren't these clowns watching what was going on.

 

The trouble is we have been watching Farrell's incompetence now for too many years. He has to pay the price for his utter ineptitude. If I had been in Dombrowski or Henry's shoes Farrell would have been fired last night and told to take his pitching coach with him.

[yankonyankee]

Lots of folks want Farrell fired. Why not Jerry Remy for manager if Farrell's canned? He's a Boston celeb in the local market and former player. Fans like him. They should text that poll on NESN, see what people think. And the closest thing to a bar chat is an internet live chat room, the kind run on java.

 

Cheer up, Sox fans. Yankees have a worse record.

[Elktonnick]

Apart from the obvious, Jerry's health isn't very good.

[Kimmi]

Lots of folks want Farrell fired. Why not Jerry Remy for manager if Farrell's canned? He's a Boston celeb in the local market and former player. Fans like him. They should text that poll on NESN, see what people think. And the closest thing to a bar chat is an internet live chat room, the kind run on java.

 

Cheer up, Sox fans. Yankees have a worse record.

 

Things are not as dire as some people think they are.

 

I don't think firing Farrell is the answer.

 

That said, Varitek for manager, Pedro for pitching coach.

[TheBabeStrikesBack]

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/49905/firing-manager-john-farrell-wont-solve-red-sox-real-problems

[a700hitter]

I don't think firing Farrell will solve much. The replacement manager will still not have a #4 or 5 starter.

[Elktonnick]

I don't think firing Farrell will solve much. The replacement manager will still not have a #4 or 5 starter.

It won't solve everything but it is the first place to start. It makes no sense to rebuild the team only to have it managed by such an inept field manager as Farrell. The first mistake Dombrowski made was not letting Farrell go last year.

[Kimmi]

It won't solve everything but it is the first place to start. It makes no sense to rebuild the team only to have it managed by such an inept field manager as Farrell. The first mistake Dombrowski made was not letting Farrell go last year.

 

So when the Sox were playing so well in April and May, does Farrell get any credit for that? Or was the team playing well in spite of Farrell?

[User Name]

Pay no heed. Elkton is a bad-weather fan (the opposite of fair-weather) who only shows up when the team is doing poorly to whine.

[Maxbialystock]

The sixth inning of last night's game was not on the players but solely on Farrell and his pitching coach. Everyone and I mean everyone knew that Wright can not command the knuckleball in the rain. At the start of the sixth inking Farrell should have had some one warming up in the bullpen not because Wright was struggling at that time but because it was raining. Instead Farrell waits until Wright lost total command of the knuckleball. Any one watching the game would have seen it wasn't a case of the pitch knuckling out of the strike zone but rather Wright wasn't able to keep his grip on the ball. So then the dim wit sends his even slower witted pitching coach out there to tell Wright to keep throwing the knuckleball, a pitch he wasn't able to literally get a grip on. Weren't these clowns watching what was going on.

 

The trouble is we have been watching Farrell's incompetence now for too many years. He has to pay the price for his utter ineptitude. If I had been in Dombrowski or Henry's shoes Farrell would have been fired last night and told to take his pitching coach with him.

 

I started this thread because, while I believe managers can deserve to be fired based on the overall performance of a team, I think too many hotheaded fans tend to focus in on specific decisions and explain them in black and white terms to prove that a manager is utterly inept (your term). And you are a case in point. There are two things true about Wright's fastball and one thing true about his knuckler. The fast ball works when it is unexpected and doesn't work when the hitter is sitting on the fast ball. The latter was absolutely the case when he gave up the dinger. Better, by far, to throw another knuckler as he was told to do because, guess what? If he walks the hitter, 1 run comes in and the Sox are still up 5-1. It was in fact incredibly stupid to throw the fast ball when the hitter was looking for it. As for the knuckler, it comes and goes whether or not it is raining. That's why Wright gets a lot of walks and, for that matter, passed balls and wild pitches. It is effective precisely because it is unpredictable. As for having guys warming up in the bullpen, the Sox were up by five and WRight was pitching a shutout going into the 6th and the bullpen has been clearly overworked the last couple weeks (even though thursday was a travel day).

 

Did I forget to mention you are bellyaching about a game the Sox won? Or that, as good as they were in the final four innings against the Angels, they have been hugely inconsistent--Kimbrell would have given up the tying run in the 9th were it not for the Sox fan not grabbed a ball that was headed back to the playing field)--this year? Wright was/is our best pitcher, and you want him out of there at the first indication of trouble.

[Nick]

Don't you think it would have been PR nightmare to fire a coach who has cancer?

[a700hitter]

Don't you think it would have been PR nightmare to fire a coach who has cancer?

When I heard that Farrell had cancer, my first thought was that it was very sad, but my second thought was that they probably would not fire him because of the optics.

[Elktonnick]

Lou Merloni, Jerry Remy and Dave O'Brien all criticized Farrell's brain dead move by not having some one ready at the start of the inning. This isn't an isolated incident with the dim witted manager of the Red Sox. Farrell never should have been allowed to start the year as manager. Whether the sox won the game or not. Farrell is one of the worst managers in baseball. His sixth inning fiasco is just one of many examples of his inept in game management. Edited July 4, 2016 by Elktonnick

[Elktonnick]

So when the Sox were playing so well in April and May, does Farrell get any credit for that? Or was the team playing well in spite of Farrell?

Farrell got the benefit of a weak schedule in April and May. Regardless of whether they win or lose Farrell is a lousy manager who doesn't get the most out of his ball club.

[Kimmi]

Lou Merloni, Jerry Remy and Dave O'Brien all criticized Farrell's brain dead move by not having some one ready at the start of the inning. This isn't an isolated incident with the dim witted manager of the Red Sox. Farrell never should have been allowed to start the year as manager. Whether the sox won the game or not. Farrell is one of the worst managers in baseball. His sixth inning fiasco is just one of many examples of his inept in game management.

 

I happen to agree that Farrell waited too long to pull Wright, knowing how he struggled in his other rain soaked outing. However, calling him one of the worst managers in baseball and saying he is inept at in game management is quite a stretch. He makes mistakes, or at least what we fans deem to be mistakes, but all managers do.

[Kimmi]

Farrell got the benefit of a weak schedule in April and May. Regardless of whether they win or lose Farrell is a lousy manager who doesn't get the most out of his ball club.

 

I do have questions about Farrell and the coaching staff in regards to the number of underperformances that have plagued this team the past 3 years. That said, there is no indication that he has lost the players or that there is any discord in the clubhouse.