What would Farrell do?

Could John Farrell have saved the Boston Red Sox's season?

We'll never know the answer, but what has become clear in the wake of Curt Young's exit as Farell's successor as Boston's pitching coach is that the two men brought drastically different approaches to the job.

One expected them to behave like men. The other demanded it.

Last week, former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling said what no other player -- current or otherwise -- has been willing to say on the record: the Boston pitchers at the heart of the controversy would have behaved differently had Farrell still been their pitching coach.

"I think that the loss of John Farrell had a massive amount to do with why this all happened," Schilling told a local radio station. "I spoke to him the other day and the first thing I said to him was 'Wow. I don't see any of this happening if you stay.' And he was like, 'Well, it might have happened, but there would have been a couple of fist-fights along the way and I would have been gone at some point.'"

As a guest on the Mut and Merloni show on Oct. 20, Boston pitcher Clay Buchholz -- who was on the disabled list for all of September -- described Farrell and Young's personalities as "complete opposite sides of the spectrum."

Lou Merloni: "Do you feel as if the pitching staff worked as hard for Curt Young as they did for John Farrell?"

Buchholz, after pause and sigh: "You know, it was a different personality. Curt's a really laid-back guy. I don't have anything bad to say about Curt. He was a cool dude. He talked to me every time I needed to talk to somebody about whatever. Obviously, half the season (when Bucholz was on the disabled list) that was just talking, it might be talking about playing long toss. It certainly wasn't talking about pitching. But, you know, it was two different personalities. Curt was, like I said, laid back, and John, whenever I got called up, it was like 'OK, I don't want to talk to him in case I have to because I'm scared of him. But, yeah, I mean there was a difference there -- "

Merloni: "Was it more lax?"

Buchholz: "Yeah, I mean maybe. I mean, I guess it wasn't. Like I said, John was more of an intense guy, he was a straight shooter. Then Curt, it was two different personalities."

Finally, during an appearance on Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight on Oct. 20, John Tomase of the Boston Herald agreed that Young's laid-back approach may have contributed to the problems.

"One of the things I heard early on was the fact that Farrell made these guys do all their running, and all that kind of stuff, between starts and in spring training," he said.

"Curt Young came in and decided to treat them like men -- that was his big mistake -- and treat them like adults. (Young) left (the training regimen) to them and assumed they would do it and did not put his foot down. And then it trailed off."

When it comes to conditioning, it's not surprising to read Farrell pushed his Red Sox pitchers.

During the final weeks of the 2011 season, the Blue Jays skipper repeatedly stressed the need for his pitchers to arrive in camp next spring in good shape, casting a particular eye towards inconsistent starter Brett Cecil.

At 6-foot-4 and well over 200 lbs, Farrell is indeed an imposing physical presence, but intimidating as Buchholz suggested?

Who knows how he his perceived within the Jays clubhouse, but in his dealings with the media, the 49-year-old Farrell comes across as an intelligent, quietly intense and occasionally tough to read.

It'll be interesting to see if the Red Sox opt for a Farrell-like personality with their next pitching coach, but in Toronto the events of the past week must have the Blue Jays and their supporters feeling secure that no matter what 2012 shortcomings might be, strong leadership in the dugout won't be one of them.

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