TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays named John Farrell their new manager Monday, handing over a young team to a man with a strong and wide-ranging resume but one without any previous managerial experience.
The 48-year-old’s hiring brings to a close a thorough, exhaustive search that began in August with GM Alex Anthopoulos and his staff combing through all 30 organizations to examine prospective candidates.
They ended up settling on Farrell, the Red Sox’s pitching coach since 2007 who was very well thought of in Boston and had been widely viewed as the heir apparent to manager Terry Francona.
Farrell, who becomes the Jays’ 12th career manager, said he was impressed with what he heard during his interview.
“Going through this interview process it became very clear the direction that this organization is heading, the resources that are available to support a club that is going to compete and compare with New York and Boston in time,” he said during a news conference.
“Those were all clear selling points to me.”
Anthopoulos said the decision came to down to “the person, and your belief in the person.”
“John, first and foremost, is a leader and that’s the number one thing we need in that clubhouse,” said Anthopoulos.
“Factor in his background, his knowledge, his ability to work with players his ability to put together a staff. There’s so much that John brings.”
Pat Tabler, the Blue Jays TV analyst who both played with and worked for Farrell with Cleveland, calls Farrell a “great baseball guy.”
“He’s very organized, he knew the task at hand and he took the talent he had and made the most out of it,” said Tabler.
“Working with him, I was really amazed at how good he was.”
A full coaching staff wasn’t named, but Farrell confirmed that third base coach Brian Butterfield and pitching coach Bruce Walton will remain in the fold.
Farrell succeeds the retired Cito Gaston, who survived a clubhouse uprising at the end of the 2009 season but regrouped to help a youthful group overachieve in 2010, finishing with an 85-77 record.
Much of that was accomplished on the back on a young pitching staff led by Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Brett Cecil.
Farrell is well positioned to help them continue their growth, and incorporate other top young arms like Kyle Drabek and Zach Stewart, but how he handles the rest of the team is less clear.
“I come here and share the same vision that Alex and Paul (president Paul Beeston) do and that’s to win a World Series,” he said. “There is a lot of work to be done.”
Tabler doesn’t think managerial experience will be an issue.
“Look at Buddy Black, he never had any managerial experience and he almost got the Padres in the playoffs this year,” said Tabler. “I parallel what I’m seeing in Toronto with what’s happening in San Diego. Buddy Black is a great manager and was a pitcher, too. I see the same thing happening, and that team was built on pitching and defence also.”
Farrell spent eight seasons pitching in the majors — he won 14 games for the Indians in 1988 — before retiring after the 1996 season. He took over as assistant coach/pitching and recruiting co-ordinator at Oklahoma State University, spending five years in the role.
In 2001 he returned the Indians as director of player development, and spent 2002 working with Tony LaCava, now the Blue Jays assistant GM. Tabler believes that job will help Farrell out as he shifts to manager.
“You’d have to wear a bunch of different hats when you’re farm director,” he said. “You have to be knowledgeable about every aspect of an organization. Hitting, defence, the draft, the talent, if a guy is ready to play in the big-leagues, can he play — all those things, and a lot more.”
Farrell remained in that role — helping mould young talent and overseeing the team’s Latin America programs, two points of emphasis for the Blue Jays — until joining the Red Sox.
Other teams have previously sought him out for managerial openings, but the Blue Jays got him.
“He will be an effective, excellent manager,” Red Sox owner John Henry wrote in an email to the Boston Globe. “I expect him to manage in MLB for as long as he wants to. He’s going to an excellent young team with a strong and smart hierarchy. The Blue Jays are going to be a force in the AL East for some time to come.”
Francona agrees.
“You spend any time around him, he can be good at whatever he wants,” he told the Boston Herald during the season. “Manager, GM, pitching coach, running a minor league system, you name it. He’s just a special talent.”