RealGM

Before spring training had even begun, new Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell had talked to each player on his 40-man roster.

Farrell felt it was important to begin building relationships through "consistency and trust" and before the pressures of the regular-season begin.

"Because there's going to come a time when that conversation isn't the pleasant one, whether it's because of what we've done at the moment or for some other reason," Farrell said. "I think it's important to build that trust so that when you do have something to say to an individual, then it means something.

"They have to know where I'm coming from. And the message that's given has to be credible."

It's a process that has continued throughout a well-organized spring training. The response from the players has been positive so far.

"He handles himself like a professional out there," said left-hander Ricky Romero, the opening day starter on April 1. "He's very approachable. I don't think one guy in the clubhouse has anything to complain about him. He's been awesome with us, with the pitchers, with the hitters. He's got a lot of knowledge."

Farrell, 48, comes to the Blue Jays after four years as the Boston Red Sox pitching coach. In the five previous years he was director of player development for the Cleveland Indians, for whom he did most of his major-league pitching.

Blue Jays utility infielder John McDonald was a major-league player with Cleveland when he got to know Farrell when he was running the farm system. McDonald said his impression of Farrell was more of someone with a sound, overall perspective of the game than as a former pitcher.

"He comes across as a baseball man," McDonald said. "I always had that perspective of him, which watching his career path and what he's been able to do. He was a coach in college (Oklahoma State University), ran the farm in Cleveland, pitching coach in Boston, manager here -- and it all to me seems like a natural progression.

John Farrell took over the Toronto Blue Jays with zero experience as a manager anywhere in the major or minor leagues. That has its upside, he said.

"I'm coming into this situation with a clean slate,'' he said. "I don't have a lot of preconceived notions, preconceived restrictions on things that I might see or look to do inside a game.''

The downside? "That might belong to Alex. He might say, 'This is a gamble,''' Farrell said, smiling.

Hardly, Blue Jays general manger Alex Anthopoulos suggested. In Farrell, he's getting not just Boston's pitching coach for the past four seasons but Cleveland's former director of player development as well.

From 2002-06, Farrell oversaw the Indians' farm system - players, coaches and staffs - and programs in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He dealt with acquiring major league players and signing minor league free agents.

"He's going from a 12-man bullpen to a 25-man roster,'' Anthopoulos said. "With Cleveland he was responsible for the entire minor league system.''

Anthopoulos hired Farrell last October to succeed Cito Gaston, who led the Blue Jays to World Series titles in 1992-93, left the team and later came back.

Farrell isn't the first to have taken this path. Big league managers have been successful despite never having plied their trade in the bushes. Gaston, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre readily come to mind.

The Pittsburgh Pirates showed an interest in Farrell after the 2007 season, his first with Boston, and the Seattle Mariners made overtures a year later. He rebuffed them both.

It's likely he was on several other teams' radar, one reason the Red Sox gave him a more lucrative contract after 2008. Boston added a clause prohibiting him from talking to other teams about a job until the 2010 season ended.