Sydney, Australia. All this brouhaha about the apparently imminent dismissal of Red Sox manager John Farrell seems a bit silly to me. I’d seen very little to make me think that Dave Dombrowski (henceforth known as D-squared) was giving the matter serious thought, especially so early in the season. So, I did what any responsible, aspiring journalist would do – I googled John Farrell. And the interwebs are positively awash with tales of managerial strife down on Yawkey Way. And to my mind, it all looks like a lot of specious nonsense cooked up by The Bowtie That Walks Like A Man.
Have a quick glance at Rosenthal’s article on – shudder – Fox Sports and you’ll see what I’m getting at, sportsfans. In essence, The Bowtie says D-squared could fire Farrell any damn time he pleases. Yep, that’s true, I guess. The Bowtie goes on to say that D-squared could’ve fired Farrell if Oakland had managed to complete the sweep last week. Again – yep, he sure could’ve, if he’d wanted. Then again, asserts the Bowtie, Farrell could be out of work by the 29th of May – if Boston fails miserably in both the Texas and Seattle series, that is. Or, says Rosenthal – if the team plays well enough to have a chance at post-season glory, Farrell might not get the bullet at all. All true, Kenny – and thanks for pointing out what John Cleese calls the bleeding obvious – you’ve described a set of scenarios that apply to pretty much every Manager in baseball.
None of this prattle seems to be anchored to anything really fire-worthy, at least as far as I can see. It’s like Ken was sitting at his breakfast nook one morning, sipping vinegar and thinking idle thoughts about how much fun it would be if there were some good old Valentine-like ructions in the home dugout at Fenway and came up with this pretty speculative article based on a mere two incidents – incidents that likely happen in Major League ballparks pretty much every other day.
What should Farrell have done in light of those Machado machinations? Ranted and raved and kept the animus going or be a grown-up and try to minimize the impact of it all? And what should he have done when the 28-year-old Drew Pomeranz got in Farrell’s 54 year old face (for being yanked after tossing 90-odd pitches in four lousy innings, remember?) If it’s me, sportsfans – well, I’m old enough to sit a 28 year old kid on his narrow ass if I’m his boss and he mouths off at me in front of God and everybody, you bet I am. And, as we saw, so is John Farrell.
So, The Bowtie appears to have drawn an awfully long bow with this gossip about Farrell’s future and in doing so, has touched off a cheap media pack frenzy that, if it continues unabated will probably cost Farrell his job after all. Nice going, Kenny. But hey, if I’m missing something here, O Gentle Reader, please don’t hesitate to bring me up to speed – I’m a long, long way from the heart of things over there, after all.