Francona gets it going away I think, but I have not closely followed the Indians enough to say he deserves it. Anyone voting for Farrell obviously has not been reading the various Fire Farrell threads.
Couple of counters though to the article linked at the top of the thread.
1. The distractions should not be relevant IMO.
2. Castillo and Pablo were hired under Bens watch. DD is not going to be weighed down by those players, and as manager, this makes it a lot easier. If Ben was still around, these decisions are harder.
3. Porcello. He was turned around after Farrell left last year for treatment, and it continued into 2016. No doubt Bannister might have played a role while he was in the minors on rehab, not sure. Cant see credit going to Farrell for Porcello.
4. The difficulties of Ortiz retirement tour , whatever they are, have been more than offset by Ortiz coming close to his best career years at age 40.
Red Sox have a payroll of 216 million, blowing way past the LT adding Price, Kimbrell, Ziegler and Pomeranz at a huge cost in terms of dollars and prospects. They have had guys like Pedroia , Hanley and Ortiz having one of their best years, career years/break out by Betts, Bradley, Boegarts and Bannister came in on Juy 5 and completely fixed the pitching. Porcello has been a CYA candidate, Price has been an ace against non Yankee teams. Kimbrell a great closer in Save situations. Wright had a 1st half nobody expected, only to be injured being used as a pinch runner. Oy.
A good GM makes any manager look good. They needed pitching, DD got Ziegler and Pomeranz and brought in Bannister. They needed a LFer, DD got Benintendi up early. Help at 3B? Hill and Moncada (oh well, that didnt last)
If you want to give credit to Farrell for that, OK. Maybe he deserves some, I won't deny that, being manager of the Red Sox cant be easy and there are a lot of different egos on the team. MOY? Not IMO.