And Then There Were Two?

There is a considerable amount of inconsistency in the underlying reports, but here seems to be a growing consensus that Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell has the inside track as we head into the home stretch of the Jays managerial search. At least one article suggests that Demario Hale and Sandy Alomar, Jr have been told they will not get the job and infers that Brian Butterfield is still not officially eliminated.

But that level of detail is by no means certain, because the report is not from one of the major sports journalists. Shi Davidi wrote last night that none of the four men had been told they were in or out but a lot can change in 24 hours.

Late this afternoon the Boston Globe confirmed a report from Sean McAdams that Hale had been eliminated, and in a separate tweet McAdams reported that Alomar had been eliminated. The Glode article offered the opinion that Farrell would get the job "if a contract could be worked out" but obviously money isn't going to stop Anthopoulos from getting his guy. I more rather think that if there are negotiations going on, they have to do with the makeup of the coaching staff.

One has to believe that the Jays will go to considerable lengths to keep Butterfield on the major league staff (and away from Baltimore) if possible and that startsw by having Farrell invested in retaining him. It's worth noting that Butterfield has flatly stated he'd like to stay in Toronto whether or not he's promoted and, in my opinion, it's a mistake to simply assume if Farrell gets the job then Butter departs.

Also, it seems logical to think that retaining Bruce Walton would be a priority.

Still, while I'm not yet prepared to just ASSUME that Farrell is in, it is certainly going to be an upset at this point if he's not.

Finally, Mike Wilner made an excellent point: Alex Anthopoulos highly prizes discretion and keeping things close to the vest. If he is as successful in that regard in this act as he has been on previous occasions, then the guy who's hired is more likely to be the guy you never saw coming.