#32-John Farrell

Who is John Farrell? Well he isn't Bobby Valentine and in Boston that is all you need right now to become manager of the Red Sox. After Valentine's awful year-though some of the blame has to be put at the feet of the front office for the poor team they put out on the field this year-Farrell, who is supposed to be more a Terry Francona style manager, is bound to have more time to turn things around. 

Before he became a manager he was also a major league pitcher who was drafted by the Indians in the 2nd round of the 1984 draft. He picked up his first professional win on August 28 for Maine against the Syracuse Chiefs with a 8-1 win. The only run he allowed coming from a Kelly Gruber home run in the seventh inning. In just three years he was pitching for Cleveland making his debut on August 18, 1987.  Nine days later Farrell ended the Brewers Paul Molitor's 39 game hitting streak by getting him to hit into a double play, bouncer to short and reaching base on an error. Farrell threw a complete game shutout. Molitor signed a ball to Farrell with the words "To John, Wishign you a great career, my best always, Paul Molitor." Finishing out the season with a 5-1 and 3.39 ERA but he had a high WHIP of 1.304 and a poor K/BB rate of 1.27. In his first full season he went 14-10 with a high 4.24 and a WAR 2.6. 1989 was an unusual one for Farrell who's record dropped to 9-14 but he lowered his ERA to 3.63-his career best along with this K/BB rate of 1.86-and had his best WAR of 2.8. In June of that season his manger, Doc Edwards tinkered with Farrell's mechanics. "The coaches determined he was standing up too straight during his delivery."  'He had screwed up his mechanics' Indians manager Doc Edwards said. 'He was up too straight and couldn't get the ball over the plate consistently.' Farrell was happy with the results since a victory came right after the changes. After that he went 7-6 the rest of the season and had an ERA of 3.03 which lowered his season ERA from 4.39 down to 3.63. The season this card is for was the start of his injuries and he would only make 17 appearances in 1990 and none for 91 or 92. An elbow injury knocked him out for most of 1990. 

Signed as a fee agent by the Angles in 92 he struggled in 93 to a 3-12 and 7.35 with a WHIP of -0.9. After making only three appearances in 94 he returned to Cleveland and made just one appearance. In 1996 he made two appearances for the Tigers and was ineffective and his career came to an end.