Do John Farrell a favor and turn the Sox over to Alex Cora

(Jim Davis, The Boston Globe)
Bill Foley (@Foles74)
Contributing Writer


The Red Sox just took two out of three games from Kansas City Royals and their eleventy billion All-Star votes, so this might not be the best time to reiterate this stance.

Still, it is time to fire John Farrell.

It certainly is not fair to blame the entire mess of the 2015 Red Sox on the manager.

His intentionally walking the winning run in Texas (even if it was Prince Fielder and his 13.5 40 time) was inexcusable, as was pitching to Nelson Cruz with first base open in Seattle. Those are just two games.

The fault of the poorly-constructed Red Sox falls on the laps of general manager Ben Cherington and a cast of severely underperforming veteran players, but the team clearly isn’t responding to Farrell. That is obvious to anybody paying attention.

The Globe’s Nick Cafardo offered 10 steps to fix the broken Red Sox, and No. 10 was to make a change at manager.

Cafardo wasn’t talking about making a change right now. Instead, he recommends making the change “if things continue to go badly and the team is lethargic and not responding” to the manager.

That point was reached by mid-May. How many times can we ask ourselves if we have finally reached rock bottom? Every loss seems like “rock bottom” for these Red Sox. Even the one loss in Kansas City was an embarrassment.

Potential replacements for Farrell suggested by Cafardo include Bud Black, Eric Wedge, Gabe Kapler and Alex Cora.

Black would be a great choice after he was fired this month in San Diego. Wedge is a former AL Manager of the Year, and Kapler is certainly intriguing. Cora, though, would be the perfect selection to take over the underachieving Red Sox.

Cora, who always seemed to make something happen every time Terry Francona put his name on the Red Sox lineup card from 2005-2008, manages the Criollos de Caguas in the Puerto Rican League.

Last winter his center fielder was one Rusney Castillo, and Cora seemed to love the overpriced Cuban. The Red Sox are heavily invested in Castillo, whom Farrell clearly can’t stand. Cora might be able to show why the team invested so heavily in the outfielder last year.

You’d also have to expect the Cora would connect with the rest of the Red Sox players. He is 39 and fresh off a 14-year career in the big leagues. Since we’re apparently stuck with the contracts of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, the Red Sox need a manager who can reach them. Cora just might that guy.

Cora, who is currently working as an analyst for ESPN, would probably jump at the opportunity to manage in the big leagues, something that is probably inevitable. That can’t also be said for Jason Varitek, who is the consensus pick of Red Sox fans tired of seeing the their dwell in the cellar of the American League East.

Varitek is not taking that job, folks, and we shouldn’t want a manager who has to be talked into to taking the helm.

Why wait until the end of the year when their will be competition to hire the best managers? Do it now.

For those who don’t think it is fair to fire a manager less than two years after delivering a World Series title, just take a look at Farrell. This job is aging him fast than a Cold War president.

Farrell, who might be better suited in the front office, seems like a good guy. He’s too nice to go Earl Weaver with the umpires, even though he really looks like he wants to these days. His face usually says “please throw me out of this game” by the second inning.

Relieving Farrell of duties as manager of the Sons of Ben Cherington might be the nicest thing anybody ever did for him.