John Henry on criticism of John Farrell: ‘It’s mainly a radio and internet thing’
The Red Sox owner spoke regarding Farrell and the team at large.
Amidst a month that has seen many of John Farrell’s decisions called into question, Red Sox owner John Henry is standing behind his team’s manager.
“Managers are always overly blamed, and John knows that comes with the territory,” Henry said. “It’s mainly a radio and internet thing. If you watch enough managers over 162 games, you know what’s important and a lot of it is how a manager manages the clubhouse.”
He mentioned the importance of a manager being able to handle the different personalities of each player, and keep players focused on and off the field. He added that the manager must also be able to do that. “In Boston both the GM and the manager have to have strong constitutions and remain above the criticism they inevitably get,” he said.
Many of the critics of Farrell, who have indeed largely been congregating on talk radio and social media, have pointed to his handling of the bullpen. In Thursday’s loss to the Tigers, Farrell gave the ball to Junichi Tazawa in the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead despite Tazawa having given up nine earned runs in nine innings since the All-Star Break. Tazawa gave up three earned runs without recording an out.
Farrell’s reasoning was that Brad Ziegler, his alternative, had worse numbers against those Tigers in a small sample size.
He also has been catching flak for his decision to pinch-run Steven Wright for David Ortiz in an interleague matchup with the Dodgers. The All-Star pitcher injured his shoulder sliding back into second base, and has not pitched since.
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