Saturday, October 27th, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Farrell? Farrell? FARRELL?
The John Farrell bandwagon appears to be picking up steam, as the Post-Gazette reports today that Red Sox owner John Henry said a bunch of positives about Farrell, stating that it would be tough for the team to lose him. It seems, however, as if he’s sort of accepted it.
On Thursday, John Donovan wrote that Farrell’s star is rising in the industry, a sign that Neal Huntington should probably act fast on the interviewing and hiring process after the World Series ends. Granted, the Pirates are the only team looking for a manager, but Mark Shapiro said that Huntington would also be a legitimate candidate for a front office job somewhere due to his experience with minor leaguers.
Huntington seems to be aware of all of this, as he stated that if the World Series ends earlier, the process would be sped up significantly. This seems to indicate, on top of all of the other hints, that Farrell is the front runner for the job.
As of right now, the names mentioned for the job in the last 48 hours are Farrell, who still seems to be the leading candidate; Joel Skinner, who started strong but seems to have fallen off significantly; Tory Lovullo, manager of the AAA Buffalo Bisons who seems to be close to Huntington, but does not seem qualified for a major league manager’s job; John Russell, the former Pirate coach who can’t be a serious candidate; and Dave Jauss, the Dodgers’ bench coach ho has not mentioned yet but is probably worth at least interviewing. Add Trent Jewett to that list and it seems as if Huntington has a pretty good idea of where he is heading, a somewhat comforting thought.
- Farrell continued his efforts to improve the team through the waiver wires, claiming LHP starter Phil Dumatrait off of waivers from the Reds to add to already claimed OF Kevin Thompson. The Pirates waived little used and completely invaluable catcher Candy Moldonado in order to pick up the pitcher, who had success in AAA but not in the majors. Huntington is trying to improve the team in any way possible as soon as possible, including waivers, which is more than Dave Littlefield ever tried.
- The Pirates supposedly have the seventh best group of players under 29 years old, according to Bill James. The more valuable question, and one that the former regime failed to ask, is what the upside of these players is. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be not so high.
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