Simmons: John Farrell has failed as Blue Jays manager

Simmons with an electric drumming out of Farrell.

“Going forward, there are additions and upgrades that are clear,” Farrell said. “What we add to our pitching staff will have a great impact on that. There are positional needs. Upgrades are needed. We’re as far away (from contention) as our additions in pitching will take us.”

He said that while the Oakland A’s, with the lowest payroll in the American League and a starting staff of rookies, were winning their 94th game on the final afternoon of the season and beating out the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West. He said that while a team that one Jays player said — “First time we played them, I thought they stunk,” — was managing the unlikely.

Bob Melvin has been something of a magician in Oakland. Robin Ventura changed the culture of the Chicago White Sox. Buck Showalter has absolutely altered the mental outlook of the Baltimore Orioles.

“This game will always be about the players,” said Farrell, “and that’s not me shunning responsibility.”

But the best do make a difference. That was obvious in Oakland and Baltimore this season. And two years in, we still don’t know what to think of John Farrell baseball, what to make of the Jays’ propensity for mistakes, what to take from the club’s lack of leadership, what to understand from his handling of his pitching staff, his apparent area of strength.

Going forward, with expectations in freefall once again, the manager remains as much a mystery as anything else with the Jays.