The head-scratching stuff with Farrell started early when he gave everyone the impression that JBJ was going to be platooning with Young. Then the weird stuff with the early pinch-hitting for Shaw.
Hard to escape the feeling that the man is a little 'muddled' in his thinking.
Lackey has pitched great since the start of 2013. His Tommy John surgery was obviously a fantastic success. He really proved himself. I still don't know why this was a necessary move. It does seem there were some other issues involved.
Kelly and Craig were not a solid get by any stretch of the imagination. Craig cost us $30 million plus, and he and Kelly both had major red flags.
I hate to say it, but as a manager Farrell just seems to be a loser. Can't take away a championship season from him, but he's finished last in his other 4 seasons. And he keeps doing things and saying things that don't make much sense.
I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about it, but what evidence is there that Lackey wouldn't have honored the contract with Boston the same way he did for St. Louis? What did he actually say?
I agree - it's all speculation - not unfounded or unreasonable speculation, but there's no hard evidence. All we know is that they jettisoned him and got crap in return.
If they had looked after Lester maybe Lackey would have been more agreeable to everything. The Lester joke offer may have contributed to losing both of them. That's quite a bungle.
They offered Lester less than they ended up paying for Rusney. That was one of the craziest lowball offers made by any baseball team in a long time.
Trading Lackey for Kelly and Craig was a swell idea. The really ironic part is that the money they're paying Craig for nothing would have covered Lackey's salary for 3 seasons, 2015-2017. Oh well, Theo Epstein says thanks to his old pals.