As disastrous a decision the Boston brain trust made in December 2011 in hiring Bobby Valentine as the Red Sox manager, it made an outstanding decision a year later in hiring John Farrell to replace him.
Lest skeptics doubt that Farrell is the primary reason the Red Sox have gone from worst to first this season, look at the Toronto Blue Jays.
After finishing four games ahead of the Red Sox last year, the Blue Jays allowed Farrell to resign as their manager and go to Boston while they amassed the most expensive payroll in their history ($128 million, the majors’ 10th highest).
While Farrell and the Red Sox have flourished in Boston, the Blue Jays have foundered in Toronto, reversing the Red Sox direction and plummeting to worst in the American League East.
As the season has progressed and the Red Sox have virtually dominated first place, their critics remained skeptical. However, with the passage of five-sixths of the season, even the skeptics have to accept the Red Sox as real. They have led the division, going into Sunday’s games, 90 of the last 97 days, or 93 percent of the time.
If the Red Sox win the division title, they will be the 10th team since 1900 to finish last one season and first the next, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The first teams to do it were the 1991 Braves and Twins and the most recent 2008 Tampa Bay.
Last season Valentine managed the Red Sox to the third worst record in the American League. This season the Red Sox, under Farrell, were the first A.L. team to win 80 games and, prior to Saturday’s games, had the league’s best record.
The most obvious difference in the Red Sox is the man in the manager’s office, although Larry Lucchino, the team’s chief executive, said, “There are lots of factors. Health and luck are at the top of list.”
Indeed, the 2012 Red Sox incurred a lot of disabling injuries, but they also suffered from the presence of Valentine, who typically alienated many of his players, beginning early in the season with Kevin Youkilis.
Lucchino had nothing to say about Valentine’s tenure except to acknowledge that he wasn’t the first choice to succeed Terry Francona. Farrell, Lucchino said, “was our first choice last year but we were unable to make a deal with Toronto to free him from his contract. We were not successful. They were just not interested.”
The Blue Jays were not interested in what the Red Sox were offering in exchange for Farrell, but last October, Paul Beeston, the Jays’ president and a close friend of Lucchino, got involved, and Toronto accepted infielder Mike Aviles.
“Beeston is one of the guys I most enjoy and admire in baseball,” Lucchino said in a telephone interview Friday. “We were able to make a deal this year that we couldn’t make last year.”
The Red Sox liked Farrell from the four years (2007-10) he spent with them as Francona’s pitching coach. Farrell found it ironic that he should wind up as the Boston manager, taking the place of the manager who was responsible for his initially working for the Red Sox.
“This game has a way of doing a lot of weird things. I guess it’s ironic. If there was one more win in 2011, none of this would ever have happened,” Farrell said, referring to the team’s classic collapse at the end of that season.
“For my part, one thing is very clear,” he added. “My focus has always been where I’m at. I never envisioned being in this spot or this situation.”
Not until the Toronto general manager, Alex Anthopoulos, his boss for two years, told him of the Red Sox interest in him and asked if he had interest in them.
“I will be forever grateful for the opportunity and experience that Alex provided me in Toronto,” Farrell said.
The Red Sox did more last winter than give Farrell the seat in the dugout previously occupied by Francona and Valentine.
“Coming into spring training we knew there would be nine new names from last year so maybe resentment from last year didn’t carry over.”
The new names have contributed to the Red Sox resurgence. Mike Napoli, signed as a free agent, has joined David Ortiz as the leading run producers, hitting 17 home runs (Ortiz leads the team with 24) and driving in 76 runs (Ortiz has 82 r.b.i., Dustin Pedroia 76).
Shane Victorino, who also signed as a free agent, is hitting .297, making him one of five Boston batters hitting in the .297-.312 range, with Ortiz leading with .312. Stephen Drew has been the regular shortstop, and Jonny Gomes has been in the outfield mix.
Koji Uehara, another free agent, became the closer after Joel Hanrahan, who was obtained from Pittsburgh, and Andrew Bailey had their seasons end prematurely with elbow and shoulder injuries, respectively.
Clay Buchholz wasn’t new, but he produced an eye-opening early-season performance with a 9-0 record and 1.71 earned run average in his first 12 starts before suffering a neck injury. He has been pitching in rehabilitation games and is close to pitching in major league games.
With the addition of Buchholz and Jake Peavy, whom the Red Sox recently acquired from the White Sox, Boston is well fortified in starting pitchers for the post-season, which they seem likely to reach after an involuntary three-year hiatus.
They also have Ryan Dempster, who joined them as a free agent last December and last month designated himself as the avenger of all things evil perpetrated by Alex Rodriguez, the Biogenesis poster boy. He threw one pitch behind Rodriguez, then hit him with another,
Given his record – 7-9, 4.75 – Dempster may very likely be excluded from Boston’s post-season pitching plans. Jon Lester (12-8, 3.99), Peavy (3-1, 3.18), John Lackey (8-11, 3.19), a re-established Buchholz and Felix Doubront (10-6, 3.74) will be in the starting line ahead of Dempster.
But look at me, one of the most active Red Sox skeptics, making playoff plans for them. Sometimes you have to face reality, and the Red Sox have convinced me they’re for real. If there were a comeback-of-the-year award for front offices, the Fenway folks might deserve it.
They deserve credit for overcoming their Valentine debacle, which they began doing even before shedding Valentine,
the biggest albatross of all. A year ago the Red Sox traded Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to the Dodgers, shedding $275 million in salary.
Unlike the clubhouse turmoil that drowned the Red Sox the past two years, “this has been a close knit group,” Farrell said. “Whether that’s the way we played, there’s a grit about this team. They don’t give away at-bats, they don’t mail it in. We’ve shown a resiliency. The work ethic and attention to detail are outstanding.
“From the big picture to a more narrow scope, we have alignment from top to bottom, from what ownership expected, from what the front office did, it goes back to the trade last year. It gave us an open canvas and enabled us to get the players we wanted.
“We have a good group of players who have prepared well and have executed.”
All the way from worst to first.