Is John Farrell Officially On Hot Seat As Red Sox Manager?
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox are not quite floundering, but at 22-21 on the year, they're not excelling either. Might it be time for a shake-up?
According to speculation from The Boston Globe's Pete Abraham, a change in manager may be on the table -- with "may" being the key word.
While Abraham did not himself suggest the Red Sox fire John Farrell, he did indicate that such an option is perhaps being considered by Red Sox brass.
"With 120 games remaining, panic would be premature. But Farrell's job security is growing increasingly tenuous with the Sox having lost 10 of 18 this month," Abraham wrote in Sunday's paper.
The Red Sox currently sit in third place in the AL East, four games behind the first-place Yankees. In terms of wild-card positioning, they're 1.5 games out of the second wild card, in a group of about 10 or 11 teams that figure to remain in that mix until the end of the regular season.
The Red Sox are coming off an AL East title -- just the eighth in franchise history -- though they got swept out of the divisional series by the eventual AL champion, Cleveland.
Under Farrell, the Red Sox have made the playoffs twice in four seasons, winning the World Series in 2013. Overall as Red Sox manager, Farrell owns a 361-330 record plus an 11-8 record in the postseason. Including his record in two seasons as manager of the Blue Jays, Farrell's managerial record is 515-500 in the regular season.
On Monday's Zolak & Bertrand program, Marc Bertrand said there's not much for the Red Sox to lose if they make a change at manager.
"What do you fear losing if he's not here?" Bertrand asked. "What are you going to do -- are you going to underachieve? You're already doing that. Are you going to lose ballgames? You're already doing that, and you're losing to bad teams right now. Are you afraid of losing the clubhouse or losing the guys on the roster? That's already happened."
Bertrand concluded: "It's time to do it. I think this week makes sense. If the Red Sox lose more games this week, do it. Just do it. Get it over with."
Abraham's comment came after the Red Sox lost three straight to the Oakland A's, before salvaging a win in the fourth and final game on Sunday. Excluding a brief two-game series vs. St. Louis, the Red Sox have lost three straight series to Oakland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee.
The best the Red Sox have been this season has been in mid-April, when they were four games over .500.
