Is 2015 going to be the moment of truth for these two gents? As fans and players alike begin to ready themselves for another season of baseball, questions are always abound concerning what we can expect. Two huge question marks reside with the man calling the shots, John Farrell, and the now senior member of the Boston starting pitching staff Clay Buchholz.
There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing with the notion that Clay Buchholz looks to be the opening day starter. The thing is, I think that default train of thought is exactly what the team needs to avoid right off the hop. With Wade Miley signing on with a three year extension and Sawx brass open to doing the same with Rick Porcello, I believe the opening day start is up for grabs. Why would the ball be automatically be handed to Buchholz? In actual fact, the whole opening day start is much ado about nothing in the grander scheme of things. Sure, it's an honor, and the guy who takes the hill in Philadelphia on April 6th will be viewed as the leader of the staff. But someone has to get the ball to start things off, and Clay has to earn it. I really don't see how a record of 8-11 with one of the worst ERAs in the league at 5.34 equates to any kind of entitlement.
Once upon a time, it looked as though Buchholz finally put it all together in 2013. He was rolling along with a 7-0 record and a dazzling 1.73 ERA. Then he fell asleep with his daughter, and his career has went into yet another tailspin.
This yo-yo odyssey actually dates back to 2011 when Buchholz turned in a solid, albeit injury abbreviated, 6-3 campaign with a 3.48 ERA in 82.2 IP as he dealt with a stress fracture in his back. He rebounded health-wise in 2012 during the forgettable Bobby Valentine era and submitted an equally forgettable 4.56 ERA in near 190 innings despite going 11-8. In the worst to first World title season, he logged only 108.1 innings but ended that season 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA. However , he was really a non- factor in the team's playoff run. So here's the thing, are we going to get 180+ innings and a gawd awful ERA or 80-100 sparkling innings from Clay?
Also, can he be the leader of a pitching staff when he seems to have trouble getting beyond his own headspace? You don't exactly get the picture of a workhorse in your head when considering the waif-like build of Buchholz as he has all the resilience of a Faberge egg. Remember the mantra that Boston pitching was going to work quickly when Farrell took over? I don't think Clay got the memo and continues to be one of the most painful pitchers to watch work. The longer he has time to think, the worse it seems to be for Clay, and former big league pitcher, Bob Tewksbury (below with Clay), has been working with him to try to iron out the mental aspect of his game. More importantly, with this upcoming season being the last on a guaranteed deal, will he be worth a 13 million dollar club option in 2016?
Turning to Farrell's tenure to date, I now have mixed feelings on Boston's articulate (bordering on verbose) skipper. Once he was pried from the rival Blue Jays, we all rejoiced as a prodigal son from past successes was returning home. I was certainly all in and figured Farrell would be the manager for the foreseeable future as he knew what it took to play in Boston, and more importantly, he knew the pitching staff.During that glorious first season under his watch, Boston never lost more than 3 games in a row. Not only did he fix Buchholz (well for one season anyway but I think he lost the manual) but former staff ace Jon Lester went from a horrendous 9-14 with a 4.82 ERA to a revitalized 15-8 and 3.75. A season good enough to allow the Red Sox to take him for granted it seems, but that story has been done to death.
That unexpected championship season in 2013 left a seemingly indelible mark on his legacy in Boston with continuing winning seasons beckoning on the horizon. However, with everyone fastened securely aboard the Farrell bandwagon entering 2014, the wheels came off as we entered territory all too familiar. Only two seasons removed from the Valentine fiasco, Boston once again occupied the cellar of the AL East. Among some questionable managerial moves throughout that gloomy season, an even more troubling issued surfaced - a divided clubhouse. Boston signed known malcontent A.J Pierzynski during the off-season in an attempt to recover offense lost by the departure of Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Both he and David Ross were to keep a spot warm for defensive phenom Christian Vazquez.
Unfortunately, Pierzynski forgot to take his bat to Boston, but he did bring his cellphone. AJ lived up to his billing as his abrasive manner and disinterest in his teammates reached a critical juncture. Boston DFA'd AJ and then the chirping started about the negative vibes in the clubhouse. This was a criticism when Farrell was in Toronto as there was no love lost between he and future HOF shortstop Omar Vizquel, who was a coach on Farrell's staff in Toronto. Vizquel claimed Farrell allowed too loose a clubhouse, and many mental and strategical errors kept reappearing on the field due to a lack of discipline. Blue Jays analyst Greg Zaun also alluded to the fact that Toronto had a "consequences free" atmosphere. Farrell has said that he prefers to let the players police themselves, but I see that as a cop out. If you have guys in the room who establish the company line, these so-called clubhouse ombudsmen need to be communicating with the manager when problems arise. So what happened with AJ? Farrell said he wasn't a problem in the clubhouse, but how would he know if he is hands off in that area?
Maybe... just maybe... Farrell needed Boston just as much as they were starved for sanity at the helm. It was the perfect storm, if you will, but now the clouds have gathered in a much more ominous manner. Is he as good a manager as I thought? I was left shaking my head a few times in 2014 with some of his moves, and wondered how good is he with developing players. Daniel Nava became a whipping boy and was banished to the minors and left to languish there as he continued his man crush on Jonny Gomes. Obviously, Gomes was a vital cog in the title season, but Jonny is one of those players that you sprinkle in. He isn't an everyday guy. Farrell and his staff also didn't have much luck with the latest batch of promising farm league pitchers as De La Rosa, Webster, Workman and Ranuado never flourished last season. As for positional players, Bogaerts took a step back, Bradley Jr. was exposed at the plate (and far too long) and Middlebrooks was a disaster.
I realize Farrell can't be faulted for the individual skill sets players bring to the table. He can't throw or hit for them, but you'd think he and his staff might have been able to reach a couple of these guys mentioned above. With the exception of Brian Butterfield, I also think the entire coaching staff is under the microscope this year as well. We had young players that couldn't hit and, not one, but two hitting coaches! Can Nieves channel Buchholz's inner ace, help Joe Kelly reach his potential, and rebuild the career of Justin Masterson?
With the state of the game as it is and the players gratuitous contracts, managers now seem to be corporate shills as many of the chess pieces on the board are moved very carefully and not without much consultation. The cantankerous, confrontational Earl Weaver's and Billy Martin's have long since vanished. Players are coddled, especially the stars. When high price free agent Stephen Drew was brought back in 2014 in a panic move by Cherington, he was continually penciled into the lineup by Farrell but couldn't hit to save his life. Getting back to Valentine briefly, yah gotta give the devil his due. He made the last bold old school decision when it came to the starting lineup. He sat Kevin Youlikis in favor of young Will Middlebrooks and the crazy bastid ended up being right even. Ick! That was tough to do. Using a more credible example when using the term "manager", how about the lineup move that was made by Terry Francona in 2010? He sat the greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history, David Ortiz, in Toronto during the 2010 season in favor of Mike Lowell in a 1-1 game in the eighth inning at the Rogers Centre. Francona was quoted as saying during this drama that you have to be able to tell players thing that they don't want to hear. Can Farrell be that guy? Can he take a hard line whether it is a clubhouse issue or an established player? It seems that this might be a work in progress.
With Boston heading into "Life after Lester" and a manager who still has a winning percentage below .500 after 4 seasons (322-326 .497), I can't think of two more important guys that will have a definitive impact on the 2015 season. I look forward to the answers of my many queries regarding this duo as the season materializes.
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