Farrell

[Maxbialystock]

Maybe it's time he had a thread of his own. I started one last year primarily to defend his in-game decisions but also to encourage discussion. I did say--several times--that the only sensible criteria for managers are their won-lost record and whether the team was performing to its potential.

2012-2016, the Arizona Diamondbacks, did not have single winning season even though twice they broke even at 81-81. This year they are playing winning ball with a new guy named Lovullo at the helm. For now, anyway, it's probably fair to say that Lovullo is doing a good job.

I'm not so sure Farrell is. It's still early in the season, of course, and the Sox are two games above .500 and 3 games out of 1st place in the AL East. If the season ends right now, the Sox would not be in the playoffs, however. That to me is under performance even though it's still early in the season.

Last year the pitching was barely adequate. But right now the pitching is 3d best (ERA) in MLB, which is better than it's been in years. Sale is a real ace, and Porcello, Pomeranz, and ERod are doing fine if not great. Price's return--hopefully before this decade is over--will help even more. The bullpen, especially Kimbrel, is good. So to me DD has done his job and given Farrell a pretty good pitching staff.

Not so the hitting--which is a big surprise to me. I definitely did not think the absence of Ortiz would have this effect. The Sox right now are 26th in MLB in runs scored and tied with the giants for dead last in dingers. Last year the Sox were 1st in runs scored and 9th in home runs. Oh, and right now we have the second highest GIDP rate in MLB--only Houston is worse. I'm not sure any of the weak hitting is Farrell's fault, however.

The Sox are top of the heap in errors with 26, and that doesn't include bonehead plays--like a pitcher not covering 1B on a grounder to the right--when no error is charged. Our outfield has pretty good range, I think, but not the infield. Our DER (whatever that means) is .687, ranked 20th in MLB.

And our baserunning is atrocious. 60 or so years ago when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, they had an outfielder named Babe Herman, renowned for his zaniness. One time he hit a gapper with men on first and second, and all three of them ended up on third base together. The story goes that a month or so later a Dodger fan is leaving Ebbets field in the 7th inning and catching a cab to an appointment. The cabbie asks how the "Bums" are doing, to which the fan replies, "great. When I left they had three guys on." To which the cabbie asked, "oh, yeah, which base?" Right now our guys are capable of plays like that.

I blame those last two on Farrell because I think it's his job to ensure our guys are good at the fundamentals of fielding the ball, throwing the ball, and running the bases.

For those who believe the Sox have been temporarily screwed by a brutal early schedule, let me remind you that right now only 5 teams in the AL have losing records, and 3 of them are out West. We have played two NL teams, the Cubs with a winning record and the Pirates with a losing record. Oh, and the Sox so far have played 18 home games and just 10 on the road. If anything, we have had a soft schedule.