The Red Sox decided to keep Torey Lovullo, as their bench coach:

The players know they’ve performed better since interim manager Torey Lovullo took over for their ailing manager John Farrell, who recently completed chemotherapy to treat Stage 1 lymphoma. They enjoy playing for Lovullo, who talks to every player on a daily basis, gives young players freedom and has given roles to relief pitchers. And they didn’t want to see Lovullo go.

Yesterday it became official: Lovullo isn’t going anywhere. Extended to a two-year contract that doesn’t permit him to interview for managerial openings with other clubs, he’ll return next year, as bench coach.

Farrell will be back as well, to manage the team, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced.

And while it might seem counterintuitive on paper to bring back the manager who led the Sox to a losing record in back-to-back seasons, the players felt otherwise.

“I think first we’re worried about his health,” said second baseman Dustin Pedroia. “We’ll worry about that stuff when next year comes. He has to take care of himself and get him healthy. We can’t wait to have him back.”

After doing a great job replacing Farrell, Lovullo would be a prime candidate for one of the open managerial jobs. I suspect he wants to stay with the Red Sox, and was likely promised that he would be the next manager when Farrell was done.