Jays Name Farrell New Manager

The Toronto Blue Jays have hired John Farrell to be their new manager. He succeeds Cito Gaston who retired at the end of the 2010 season.

Farrell has spent the past four seasons as the pitching coach for the Boston Red Sox. Previously, he was the Director of Player Development for the Cleveland Indians. Farrell also pitched parts of eight seasons in the bigs with the Indians, California Angels and the Detroit Tigers. I remember when Farrell first came up with the Tribe in 1988. He had good command of his pitches but he just couldn't stay healthy and missed two seasons due to an elbow injury.

Now Farrell is an unknown quantity as a manager but he has a good reputation as a pitching coach. During his years here in Boston, Farrell was far more fiery than Terry Francona. He'll certainly be more fiery than Gaston. I remember the time he cussed out the Mariner Moose when he nearly ran over Coco Crisp while he drove his ATV in front of the Red Sox dugout.

It will be interesting to see if Jays make any other off-season moves. They are going to need more than just a managerial change to compete in the AL East in 2011.