Abraham On Toucher & Rich: Farrell Is Red Sox Top Choice
BOSTON (CBS) - The Bobby Valentine era is over for the Boston Red Sox, and now the focus is on 2013.
The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich Friday morning, and said the Red Sox' top choice for their next manager is pretty clear.
"(John) Farrell is definitely the guy they want. I think if he were to go to Toronto and say he wants to go back to Boston, the Blue Jays have no choice but to figure out a way to do that," said Abraham. "It's going to be up to John Farrell to decide what he wants to do, and if says he wants to go back to the Red Sox this could get done pretty fast; two weeks or so."
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"It lands on Farrell to decide what to do, and he knows the Red Sox people pretty well," added Abraham. "If at some point in the next couple of days we hear Toronto has granted the Red Sox permission to talk to John Farrell, that means Farrell is going to be on his way."
Is Farrell, who served as pitching coach under Terry Francona, a good choice for the job?
"I don't think it's a slam dunk. He hasn't had a lot of success in Toronto as a manager and he's had a couple of issues too," said Abraham. "Omar Vizquel has come out and criticized the Blue Jays for how they were prepared. He had the issue with Yunel Escobar going out on the field with a slur on his eye black; how does a manager or his coaching staff not notice something like that?"
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"There are a lot of things that about Farrell that doesn't make him slam dunk, but there are plenty of things in the Red Sox mind that make him a better choice than other guys, and the main thing is he's been in their system," he said.
The Red Sox have plenty of other moves to make after naming a new manager, and it appears re-signing David Ortiz and Cody Ross are atop that list. What other moves can we expect the Boston brass to make this offseason?
"The big moves have to be pitching related. This team definitely needs at least one starter if not two. They need some help in the bullpen and need to get themselves organized from a pitching standpoint," said Abraham. "I think that's one reason they have to move pretty quickly and hire a manager because whatever you do with your pitching staff, you want your manager to be comfortable with. Everything they did last year was before Bobby became manager, so I think it was difficult for him to manage a team he had nothing to do with putting together."
