John Farrell is entering his fourth season as manager of the Red Sox and thinks this year's roster is capable of doing special things.
With Opening Day coming up Tuesday in Cleveland, Farrell discussed a few topics in a sitdown with MLB.com.
MLB.com: Last year at this time, we were wondering how a lot of these young guys were going to do -- Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts. It seems like now you pretty much know what you're going to get now. How much confidence do you have in your young core of players?

Farrell: I think that's grown by the week, grown by the month, when we look back at the second half of 2015. The fact that they've got a full year under their belt ... anytime you have a body of work that you can draw from and maybe get a better understanding of what they're going to provide you, you can match up, maybe do some things differently with your lineup.
But in the case of the guys you mentioned, they're our everyday players in center field and right field, in Mookie and Jackie. And what Xander's become after a Silver Slugger year at shortstop, they have grown in confidence. And I think they've grown in confidence as a group. I think the one thing you see in the clubhouse is how close-knit they are and how they rely on one another when there's times of adversity.
MLB.com: As a manager, how nice is it to have a team that has rotation led by David Price?

Farrell: We were in need of that No. 1 guy. We were able to go get David and he has been everything that we had hoped, even before Opening Day. We're seeing a guy who's comfortable in leading, comfortable in maybe being labeled "that guy." He's not only a great performer, and has been for years, but there's also his willingness to help other guys around him.
Those are the things we knew about him secondhand from the other sources we were able to garner. But when you see him in person and you know the genuineness he has and the competitor that he is, we're glad he's in our uniform, for sure.
MLB.com: How much excitement is there for you with David Ortiz going into his last year, just to see how that's going to unfold?

Farrell: If you were to ask me this question, hopefully sometime in late October, hopefully we'd say we sent David off with the greatest gift of all -- and that's a deep October run. I know that David doesn't want to replace winning with a tour of his own acknowledgement or celebrity. He wants to win. He wants to go out a winner. We want that, we need that, our fans deserve that. And to have shared eight years with him personally, and to see all he's accomplished, this should be a very fun ride.