John Farrell Staying with the Sox - First Good Off-Season News

The off-season news posts have officially started and thankfully it begins on a positive note!

Farrell turns down shot at Pirates' job
By Gordon Edes, Globe Staff

Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell released a statement through the Sox, saying he planned to stay with the club rather than pursue a chance to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates. His statement said:

“While I do have aspirations to manage in the major leagues in the future, my commitment to John, Tom, Larry, Theo, Tito and the Red Sox, needs to be greater than one year for their faith in hiring me as their pitching coach. Therefore I have declined the opportunity to interview for the position of Pittsburgh Pirates manager. I look forward to contributing to and competing for another World Series title here in Boston."

Not only that, but Schilling has chimed in on the report (of course he has), saying:

John Farrell is a HUGE part of the equation, not just for me either. He’s as good as anyone I’ve ever worked with and probably the most over qualified pitching coach in the world. This guy is a GM already. I think him doing what he’s doing is a testament to his love for the game more than anything.

This guy gets it on so many levels, personal and professional. While I would claim we are very close friends, he was always my coach first, which is something I desperately need at this point in my career. He’s as upfront and honest as you could ever hope someone in his position would be.

Add to that he’s as genuine and nice as anyone I’ve ever met. One of my real pleasures in life is the ability to rag him about the fact that he wears a 10 5/8 hat, or something close to it.

Good pitching coach, better person.

This leads me to believe that Farrell is still grooming Tek to become pitching coach when his days of playing are over. I don't have any inside knowledge about this, it's just a hunch based on the Tek-love-fest displayed by Farrell during his WS interviews with Fox.

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