Farrell is under contract for 2018.
There are 3 scenarios: fire him, keep him for next year with no extension, or give him an extension.
If he is let go, the team will have to pay his 2018 salary, plus the salary of the new manager. I cant' find the details of how much Farrell makes. Shouldn't be a big expense in relative terms, but it's not my money.
If he is retained, they will either need to extend him at least one more year, or they will have a "lame duck" manager. The media will be using that "lame duck" status to try to stir up trouble with the players by asking Farrell and the players about it all the time and making it one of the big storylines of the season.
Does anyone want him to get a contract extension? Most of his support here seems to be fairly lukewarm.
I don't think Farrell should get an extension. I guess I could be all right with one year added, to avoid potential distraction, but no more than that.
Going into next year with him as a lame duck could be a distraction, and that possibility would have to be factored into that decision. If they did keep Farrell with no extension, I think he would be on the hot seat from day 1.
Personally, I think he is a mediocre manager overall, not good but not horrible. I think he did a better job this year than last year, despite really disagreeing with some of the things he did this year, but the overall results were about what I thought we would get, factoring in the offensive decline. I think this team had a lot of talent, and maybe should have won a few more games, but they did win a lot and held off NY at the end.
My perception of Farrell is that his teams always win a few games less than they should, and that he is not a good in-game manager. He's not terrible, but if Dombrowski can bring in someone good, then I would support that 100%. But I don't think say Ausmus for example is likely to be much better than Farrell.
if they sack him, whether I'm happy or not depends on who they bring in. The new guy will be under a ton of scrutiny right away, since he will be replacing a guy who won 3 AL East titles and a World Series in 5 years, and is only the second manager in about a hundred years to win a title here.
The new guy would need to get off to a good start, or will be feeling some heat in the media right away. If a new guy comes in, it had better be someone with some experience at least as a bench coach if not a manager. Someone like Varitek would be out of the question for me, not enough experience in any kind of significant coaching role. At least Cora has been a bench coach and has managed professional players.