CLEVELAND -- The news that both John Farrell -- as manager -- and Torey Lovullo -- as bench coach -- would be returning to the Red Sox in 2016 was welcomed in the clubhouse Sunday.
"I think that's the thought the players had all along,” said Dustin Pedroia. "We were hoping that John recovers what he's going through and we can't wait to get him back. We want him to be back to normal and be fine. And if he is, he's going to be our manager.”
"John had the battle that he had to fight,” said pitcher Clay Buchholz. "We were all behind him. We were fully expecting him to be our manager next year if his health was well. It will be good to see him back in spring training, 100 percent.”
Added Blake Swihart: "That's awesome. He's been through a lot this year and handled himself well. We'll have a good year (in 2016).”
The players also expressed admiration for the job done by Lovullo, who filled in for Farrell for the past seven weeks.
"Torey did great,” enthused Pedroia. "Torey's been unbelievable. The influence he's had on everybody during these times. We've had a lot of change in the last few months and Torey's calmed everything down and made us focus on that day and try to get better as players and a lot of guys definitely moved forward and got better.”
Said Buchholz: "Torey couldn't have handled it any better from my point of view. Not that he didn't have the respect of everyone before, but he gained a lot of respect from a lot of guys by the way he handled the whole situation. To see one of your best friends go through what John went through and the way he's handled this club, to the point where we had a chance to finish .500 at the end. We didn't quite make it, but I think we finished up a lot better than a lot of people thought we would.”