Are John Farrell's days as Boston Red Sox manager numbered?
Ejected in the second inning of Monday's AL Division Series deciding loss, Farrell is now facing fans calling for him to be fired.
But as NBC Sports Boston's Evan Drellich argued, there are several things the Sox need to consider before showing Farrell the door.
"Something that people perceive as strange can be the the right decision. But simplistically speaking, firing a manager who had back-to-back 93-win seasons with division titles, the first time that's been done in franchise history, does appear a little odd," he wrote
Drellich also argued that the team shouldn't fire Farrell without a replacement lined up. Furthermore, firing Farrell won't fix all of the team's clubhouse problems.
"If you have [David] Price and [Dustin] Pedroia trying to fight the world together, any manager may be at their mercy," Drellich wrote.
Farrell wasn't surprised to hear his job security questioned after the Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs with their 5-4 loss to Houston.
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"I can't begin to talk about what the offseason plans are and what changes may be realized, but I still feel like there's a lot of good things that are going on here," Farrell said.
Farrell was unavailable Tuesday as Boston's players cleaned out their lockers and departed for the offseason. But team officials said he and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski are scheduled to hold season-ending news conferences later in the week.
Farrell's current contract runs through the 2018 season.
Boston won back-to-back American League East titles for the first time in franchise history this season despite losing the bat of retired slugger David Ortiz. It also did it despite starting the season with $217 million pitcher David Price on the disabled list and watching as 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello stumbled to an 11-17 record.
The season also featured a second straight All-Star appearance by Mookie Betts and the arrival of Rafael Devers. Other young cogs like Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi also were key contributors.
The group showed resiliency throughout the season. And Farrell said Monday that he believes he is the manager that can get it over its current hump.
"We didn't meet our goals," Farrell said. "But we have seen some really good young players continue to develop. We had a number of challenges thrown our way from individual injuries to performance. But as a team they stuck together."
Time will tell whether the franchise sticks with him.
