Lester Says New Red Sox Manager Farrell Is A "No BS Guy"
BOSTON (CBS) – The Red Sox will officially introduce John Farrell as the team's manager Tuesday afternoon.
Farrell rejoins the Red Sox after spending two seasons on the Toronto Blue Jays bench. He served as the Boston pitching coach for four seasons under Terry Francona, and rejoins the team to much fanfare from players and fans alike.
Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Monday night he is happy Farrell was hired quickly, saying, "All the question marks are gone and I think that's just the biggest thing for players."
Lester says the players knew Farrell was the frontrunner for the job, and is excited to have him back.
ROCHE: Farrell A Solid Choice
"I just like the fact that he was a no BS guy," says Lester. "I knew if I had a question for him, I was going to get a straightforward answer I wasn't going to have to read into anything try to figure out what the real reason was, or have him kiss my butt or anything like that. I knew that he was going to be genuine with me, and he had my best interests. It made things cut and dry. You knew what you were gonna get and you knew going into every series that he was going to be more prepared than their guy to help us get those hitters out. I'm really looking forward to seeing that and how he carries that over to being a manager on a day-to-day basis."
"When you have someone that you play for, and he cares for each individual the same and there is no favoritism or rooting for a person more than the other; that makes everyone a unit and want to succeed the best they can," said Lester. "Any time you have that respect from your coach and you know that guy has your back 24/7 – whether it's spring training, the offseason, whatever it is – you know you can call him up in a time of need and he's going to have your back. That makes our job easier and he does a good job at that."
But just because the Red Sox have a new manager -- their third in the last three seasons -- the team won't just forget about last season's 69-93 campaign. While former manager Bobby Valentine has shouldered a lot of the blame for the dismal season, Lester says the players also need to take their share of the blame pie.
"I'll take full responsibility for it. It is the player's responsibility to play better," he said. "A lot of times the manager and pitching coach can be an easy excuse for some people to throw out there. At times this year it was tough to deal with everything that was going on, but with that being said, it always comes back down to us going out there and performing, and we just didn't do it."
Jon Lester with Dan Roche:
The Sox acquired Farrell from the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, sending short stop Mike Aviles to Toronto as compensation.
