John Farrell says he knew all along that Torey Lovullo would be his bench coach in Boston.

And as for the rest of his staff?

He’s working on it.

During a conference call Friday to announce the Lovullo hiring, the new Boston Red Sox manager said he plans on doing a little more homework before filling out the other positions on his staff.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Farrell said. “We’re deep into it, not only in terms of building lists as they relate to each position on the staff but getting recommendations, going deeper than just our personal relationships with an individual candidate.”

Soon after it was announced Farrell had been released from the final year of his contract with Toronto to take over for Bobby Valentine in Boston, it had been speculated Lovullo would soon join him.

The 47-year-old Lovullo spent the past two seasons as the Blue Jays first base coach. His hiring in Toronto was one of Farrell’s first acts shortly after being hired by the team in the fall of 2010.

“It was very clear in my mind that Torey was going to come in here as the bench coach provided he was able to make that move from Toronto,” Farrell said.

On Sunday, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said members of the Blue Jays 2012 coaching staff are now free to pursue opportunities with other organizations while they conduct their managerial search.

Some have speculated that Farrell may also be interested in bringing Blue Jays third base coach Brian Butterfield and special assistant Luis Rivera with him to Boston.

On Friday, Farrell said he is in no rush to make any other announcements.

“We’re working through it,” Farrell said when asked if he has an idea of when his staff will be in place. “We’d like to get it done, sooner than later, but we’re not going to take any shortcuts just to put names at positions.”

When asked what lessons he learned in Toronto regarding his approach with his coaching staff, Farrell said the ability to speak frankly with them will be key going forward.

“The one thing you’re always going to have to remain aware of is, even with a fellow staff member there’s going to be times where you need to confront things, have difficult conversations and even though the staff in Toronto was a collaborative effort between Alex and myself, there were people that were there that were (holdovers) and you learn to find out what their strengths are and you try to fill in as best you can,” he said.

“But I think it’s important to be consistent, to be truthful with them and confront issues as they arise. There were plenty of opportunities (in Toronto) to do just that.”

Farrell added he has no such concerns with Lovullo by his side.

“To be able to interject and peer through some of the other thoughts that might be dominating my mind at the time, I feel there’s absolutely no reluctance on Torey’s part to give that, and that’s what allows us to weigh all the options that might be present, even though I might not be thinking of it,” he said. “To have that free flow and not have anything held back, those barriers aren’t there.”

Lovullo is no stranger to the Boston market having managed the Red Sox triple-A Pawtucket affiliate in 2010 and having been interviewed to replace Terry Francona last fall.

He said the Farrell-to-Boston rumours that began last winter and picked up again this past summer when it became clear Valentine would not return were, “really in our face the last month in Toronto.”

“I don’t know what took place behind the scenes; I don’t know what took place through the whole process; I just know that when it started to spark up last week that it was real,” Lovullo said.

He added he felt Farrell and the Red Sox were a good fit.

“My common thought, though, was that if he could be pried away from the Blue Jays, he would be a really good fit there knowing what I know of him and the natural connection there with Boston.

“Once it happened, I was pretty happy for John.”

Chad Mottola, #Jays‘ triple-A hitting coach this yr, interviewed with Indians for batting coach job. Went well but he didn’t get it.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) October 26, 2012

#Jays had been kicking around adding Mottola as hitting coach assistant to Dwayne Murphy before Farrell bolted.

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) October 26, 2012

RT @buster_espn: John Farrell is looking for Bobby Valentine’s envelopes, writes Alex Speier. weei.com/sports/boston/…

— Mike Cormack (@MikeCormack) October 26, 2012

FYI: Bobby V hire RT @bradfo: 3B coach Jerry Royster wants to stay with the Red Sox weei.com//sports/boston… via @weei

— Mike Cormack (@MikeCormack) October 26, 2012