Farrell's Impact on the Red Sox
Contributing Writer
Or "Farrell for Manager of the Year." Any way you look at it, the Red Sox have had an impressive season, and John Farrell has been the driving force behind the change. The Boston Herald names his decisiveness, honesty, and touch as main reasons for his success. He separated himself from Bobby Valentine in multiple ways, like his attention to detail and his ability to handle stressful situations. The Herald also notes that he put his players interests before his own, unlike Valentine. Valentine proved from day one that he did not have the respect of the players and that he didn't have control over the locker room, and Farrell is the exact opposite.
Now for the on field results, which is a literal worst to first scenario. On Friday, the Red Sox clinched their first AL East title since 2007. Remember 2007? Yeah, that's what I thought. You can pinpoint any number of factors for the turnaround, from the stroke of genius that sent the vast majority of the problem to the LA Dodgers, which in turn freed up cap space to bring in the right guys, to the chemistry, to the team's on-field performance. But you need the right guy at the helm (Farrell) to hold it all together, and hold it together he did. In fact, he did more than hold this team together, he molded the team according to his will and made this group into a winning baseball team poised to make a deep October run.
To that end, he's made this group into a group that has exceeded all expectations, as well as completely changing the culture in the locker room. At the end of 2011 into the 2012 season, the clubhouse was extremely toxic, and no one really had control. Least of all Bobby Valentine, who had no control over the team and went about his business in the complete wrong way by making issues public (see: when he publicly called out Kevin Youkilis for not working hard) and Farrell hasn't done that.
You can say what you want about "Well, Farrell has strong financial backing" or whatever, but it takes special managerial talent to mold a team with plenty of new faces into one team with a singular purpose, while at the same time managing a team through injuries and keeping them in contention. Farrell also seamlessly integrated young blood, again, while keeping this team in the hunt. It wasn't always easy due to injuries, but Farrell and the Sox always found a way to keep winning, whereas they folded last year after key players went down.
All of these things lead me to believe John Farrell should be in the conversation for Manager of the Year. Yes, I realize there are other worthy candidates, but John Farrell should win because he completely changed this team and exceeded every expectation set out for this team.
Tweet me @ConorJF1016 or leave a comment with your thoughts.
