John Farrell was fired by the Boston Red Sox days after his team lost 3-1 in the ALDS, and the move was not all that surprising to any who have followed the team. What is slightly more noteworthy, however, is that the Red Sox say even a World Series would not have saved the manager’s job.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski did not go into detail about why the team has decided to move on from Farrell. But he did refute the notion that an ALCS or World Series appearance would have led to a different result.
Dombrowski said Farrell was fired for reasons he won't disclose and that no level of team success would have prevented that.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) October 11, 2017
Dombrowski explaining (or, really, not explaining) why he fired Farrell: pic.twitter.com/omg2LdhxWH
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) October 11, 2017
That seems incredibly hard to believe. While it could be true that the Red Sox front office wanted Farrell out, no team is more concerned about public opinion than the one on Yawkey Way. How do you fire a manager who just led the team to its second World Series win in his tenure? You don’t.
Farrell lost his job for both baseball and clubhouse reasons. In addition to being a poor in-game manager, there were also indications that he was having trouble getting his players to block out distractions. His dismissal is hardly a shock.
