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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v RED SOXOctober 19, 2013John FarrellBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Game Six Q. Bogaerts said that he's nervous on the inside but tries not to show it. He doesn't look nervous out there. Do you think he is nervous, is there another 21‑year‑old you can compare him to as far as poise goes? JOHN FARRELL: Well, I haven't been around many 21‑year‑olds in this environment, I can't even begin to compare what he's demonstrating. And I would hope he would be nervous inside. That would only be, I think, a natural response. But at the same time he's able to control it and it doesn't take him out of his approach or how he plays the game. It's been really fun to see, actually. The smile on his face never goes away. There's never the look on his face, there's no deer in the headlights, any kind of those descriptions you might come up with. He's a very mature and poised young man. Q. How are you going to adjust to Max tonight? JOHN FARRELL: We expect him to pitch a strong game against us tonight. If we do get some pitches on the plate is not to miss them. He was so locked in six days ago that he threw so many fastballs on the edge, he didn't miss in the middle of the plate, and if he did, we didn't square him up. So the fact is there's a recent outing against him, some familiarity, even though he dominated us in the seven innings he was in there. I know one thing, come that first pitch our guys are going to be ready, it's just a matter of how consistent his stuff is. We know we're going to get powerful stuff thrown at us. Q. You were weighing your options a year ago this time, with the Red Sox situation, their large payroll team, but not a lot of financial commitments? JOHN FARRELL: You know, I was in a situation where I wasn't weighing options. There were some things that transpired that brought me here. But it wasn't like I was, you know, a manager in waiting somewhere. I was under contract and committed to the Blue Jays at the time. But I think once everything worked out it was clear that there was a core group of players here that were experienced, talented, and health in many of those cases kept them from performing as they did, and just getting an understanding of what Ben's vision was at the time. We've been able to see that come to life. And the support that our ownership has given here, John, Tom and Larry are certainly engaged, but they have been extremely supportive of the approach taken, and it's worked out well. Q. Can I rephrase that? Just the idea you were a large payroll team and the team had rid itself of a lot of financial commitments with the trade last year. How appealing was that to you to put the wheels in motion for what did happen? JOHN FARRELL: It gave a lot of flexibility. And it gave the ability to target those players that we felt were a good fit for Boston, both from a talent standpoint and a personality standpoint that would embrace the challenge here. And the work that Ben and his staff have done to identify those guys, do the background work and ultimately bringing guys together. It's probably the way we've gone about doing it and the type of players we've brought in that's as rewarding as the success on the field. Q. What have you seen in the quality of Ortiz's at‑bats over the course of the series? JOHN FARRELL: Well, he's certainly been pitched to very effectively. Guys haven't given in to him, they've worked him backwards in some fastball counts. Look at what Fister did to him a couple of at‑bats, throw a baseball up and in on him with a 2‑2 count and then a good pitch with a breaking ball. He poses that threat every time he steps in the box. He recognizes that a lot of teams will pitch him carefully, and I think it's important that ‑‑ David is typically not a guy that gets frustrated with the attack plan of the opposition. To their credit, they haven't thrown many pitches on the plate. When they did in a bases loaded situation, we know what he can do. Q. Just in terms of how you'll use your bullpen tonight, the way you did in Game 5, knowing you had an off‑day the next day, would you be comfortable going multiple innings with Tazawa, Breslow and Uehara knowing there may have to be a game tomorrow? JOHN FARRELL: We'll see how it goes. Hopefully Clay can work deep in the game. But we have been more aggressive going to the bullpen in key spots. Unfortunately, the reason being, that we've got three guys down there, and really more than three. But there's probably five guys that can go one‑plus innings, and Koji is available for that tonight. So I don't want to go into tonight playing for tomorrow, either. Q. A minute ago you mentioned Ben's vision for the team. How did he describe that vision to you for this winter and also from when you first met him in baseball, a decade or so ago, how has his view of the game changed? JOHN FARRELL: Oh, I think he's always adhered to his own personal values when it comes to the type of person that he wants in uniform. We shared a similar role. I was in Cleveland, he was the farm director here, and we had a chance at that point in time to begin to get an understanding of what was important in those roles: Keeping the player first and foremost, what their well‑being was, how they respected the game, how they respected the name on the front of the jersey more than the name on the back. So all those are ingredients into the type of player that we were attracted to and the reputations that those individuals had. I can't say that his view on constructing a team has changed all that much. We share a lot of the same thoughts along those lines. And I think that's why coming back here it allowed us last October and November to hit the ground running, and really target those players we both were in agreement of on how they played the game. And that's what I meant before on how we've put this together and how it's unfolded. It's the type of people that are here. We feel like this has got a chance to continue on. And again it goes back to targeting the right people that can play here in Boston. Q. How compromised physically does Miguel Cabrera look at the plate, and how much respect do your pitchers still have to pay to him? JOHN FARRELL: Our respect for anybody in that lineup has not changed. We've got guys that are banged up here, as well. And we know every guy on that side might not be fully a hundred percent, but that's expected when you get into October. When we've mislocated he's still driven the ball for extra base hits or out of the ballpark. It's still going to come down to pitch execution and the consistency of that. Every time he steps in the box he's got a chance to score. Q. The Red Sox make a lot of stat‑based decisions over the course of the season. Once you get into a postseason environment are they equally meaningful or does gut feel understanding your players play a bigger role? JOHN FARRELL: I think at this point in time gut feel comes into it a little bit more than numbers will tell you on a stat sheet or a given category. So the way players respond under these circumstances in this environment has got equal weight, if not more, than maybe what the numbers might indicate or drive you to make a decision over the course of a regular season game or over 162. This is a different environment. And I think that's why we've got to remain in tune with how guys are responding in those key moments, pressure‑packed moments. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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