Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell not alone with poor decisions
By Rick McNair
Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell has now joined Joe McCarthy, Grady Little and John McNamara in the Red Sox hall of managerial infamy.
As you read this you have one thing in common with me and everyone else in Red Sox Nation – we know a world more about baseball than whoever the manager of the team may be. That is a natural happening and most of us use far too much hindsight to pontificate about our incredible insights into various moves that should have been made.
The reality is most managerial moves are similar to umpiring decisions in that they are routine and quite basic. However, with both come the occasional questioning of how can he do that? One thing the fan does not have privy to is the real situation with each player. A player may have a minor tweak that is not out for public examination that changes a decision.
With 25 Alpha Males on a team, there is always an undercurrent of competitiveness where one or more players feel they should be sitting at the adult’s table as a regular. Sitting on the pine – it is no longer pine – impacts fragile egos to the nth degree. Just the recent ire of Clay Buchholz over being dismissed from the rotation is an example.
"“A baseball manager is a necessary evil.” – Sparky Anderson"
There are decisions that just make my head explode. John Farrell has had so many I am simply staggered by their numbers. Farrell has far exceeded my game management questionable decisions that now place him in the rarefied territory of Don Zimmer. Surprisingly enough, I found Bobby Valentine to be a rather competent game stagiest.
What are the top few that I remember? The criteria for two is simply moves that were at dramatic changing points that are well-known to every baseball fan, one that I still ponder from this season and a last one that has been passed down by generations of fans.