Dave Dombrowski addresses John Farrell's firing, offseason plans

Red Sox director of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski met with the media this morning to discuss his decision to dismiss John Farrell as manager, his outlook on the team, some health updates and the need to score more runs. 

Opening statement: “I want to start by thanking John Farrell for what he has done for the Boston Red Sox organization throughout the years as a manager and the pitching coach. He's accomplished a lot of fine things for the organization. In the situation here, after some thought processes, you weigh a lot of things that become involved and, to me, I thought it was the appropriate time to make a change for the betterment of the organization to move forward. You weigh a lot of different things that come into play, you watch day in, day out over a season, and you come up with the decision based upon that. For me, I think, at this point sometimes change can be better and that's why we have decided to move forward with the change."

On what were some of the factors: "I think in those situations, I'm not going to share facts. They are things that I keep to myself, talk to our baseball operations about, but you weight a bunch of different things — basically everything — in making a decision like this. It's a major decision. Those are things you keep to yourself. I'm not going to get in particular situations that really made the final decision."

"That role is a very important job. It's a very difficult job. There are a lot of things that encompass the manager's job, so we'll look for somebody that we think can do that job well for us and hopefully guide us to continued success on the field."

Dombrowski said after Monday's loss he sat with some baseball operations people and got their general thoughts. On Tuesday morning he met with baseball operations to discuss the overall situation on the topic of the manager's spot. After that, made the decision to make a change. Met with John Henry and also conferenced in Tom Werner and Sam Kennedy, told them the decision. Talked with Major League Baseball, met with John Farrell this morning.

 

On the 2017 team: "We have a very fine, talented baseball club. I look for us to be good for years to come. But some of them, hopefully, will have better seasons next year too. Some of them did not have the best seasons of their careers and I think some of them are capable of having better years."

Ideally, like to name someone as quickly as possible, but won't rush it. Have a list and added more names. Will whittle it down.

On Price-Eckersley situation playing a role: "I'm not going to get into any specifics. ... We've moved on."

Ability to deal with a media weighs more here than in Detroit.

On experience being a factor: "I think managerial experience helps. I don't think it's a 100 percent necessity. But I think being in a dugout during the game, seeing what a manager encounters is helpful. I do think it's more important here than in some other places to walk directly onto the field without some on-field managerial experience or big league coaching."

Didn't contemplate a change during the season.

On meeting with Farrell: "We talked face to face this morning. He was very professional with me. He understood, respected my decision and wished him well. Thanked him for everything he did. ... It's not like he was pleased. He was disappointed."

On if current Sox coaches are on the list: "Most likely not, but not for sure not."

Minority candidates will be part of the search.

On David Price's relationship with the staff and front office: "My relationship with David Price is fine. I can't speak for his feelings on me or the coaching staff."

On the new coach dealing with the young talent: "It will be very important. We have a young core of players that are outstanding young talents that I think have a chance to be championship-type players. They are still in their growth stage but are a great foundation for a baseball club. We do have some veterans, of course, in that mix too. But I do think it will be very important for whoever it is to relate to them. Not just relate to them but help them get better as players."

Dustin Pedroia: He is seeing a specialist in New York today, will see another specialist in Boston and then they'll decide.

"We like our core of young players. We like their talents."

Explained thought process to Henry, and said that decision is up to you. He was supportive of anything I thought I needed to do. That was the first major discussion about the manager.

Didn't consult the players. "I think it's a management decision."

On the offense: "We need to score more runs. I didn't supply the players to score more runs. I think we do need that. That's part of our offseason goal. Well, where does that player play? I'm surprised with the players we have that we didn't score more runs. I know we didn't have David (Ortiz) but when you replace him with Mitch Moreland — and we didn't look to replace him one for one with Mitch Moreland — he did fine for us, hit over 20 home runs and knocked in over 80 runs, which is what we would have hoped he would do. So some guys didn't have as good a season, and sone of those guys need to get better again. When you then appraise it, you've got three young outfielders that are all good, we've got a young third baseman, a young shortstop, second baseman we know Peddy, we have young catchers, most of your offense doesn't come from catching. You've got first base and DH left at that point. Hanley (Ramirez) is one of the guys we look forward to having a bigger year for us from an offensive perspective. Some of that is going to come from an internal perspective and you could look to the outside for someone to help. But we need to score more runs."