John Farrell officially taking over as manager of the Boston Red Sox Sunday afternoon was supposed to signal yet another defeat for Toronto and the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was supposed to be another blow in our mounting inferiority complex. It was supposed to show, yet again, that Toronto isn’t a big league city and it can’t compete with A-list sports franchises.

I say good riddance.

Blue Jays fans appear to be so absorbed in self-flagellation that we failed to notice that Farrell wasn’t exactly the second coming of Casey Stengel.

Under Farrell, the Blue Jays were an atrocious 73-89 this season, a season in which they were expected to at least contend for a wild card berth. Last year, Farrell’s first at the helm, the team finished just 81-81.

Oh sure, the 2012 Jays were decimated by injuries. Slugger Jose Bautista missed 70 games with a bad wrist. Young fireballer Kyle Drabek suffered a torn right elbow, and almost every pitcher in the starting rotation spent some time on the DL. Brett Lawrie strained his oblique and JP Arencibia broke his hand. Closer Sergio Santos missed the entire season with a bum shoulder. There’s no question the Jays suffered from their injuries.

But a good manager doesn’t use injuries as excuses. A good manager gets the most out of his lineup, regardless of who’s in it. If you’re short on power, you use speed to manufacture runs. If your relievers are banged up, expect your starters to eat more innings. That’s how guys like Tom Kelly (Minnesota Twins, 1987 and '91) and Whitey Herzog (St. Louis, '82) bucked the odds to win World Series with patchwork rosters.

But Farrell, who had never managed a team before joining the Jays, was never able to work his way out of trouble or inspire greatness.

Adam Lind had to take a mid-season trip to the minors to get his head straight. Lawrie struck an umpire with his batting helmet and looked clueless on the basepaths. Yunel Escobar walked onto the field with a homophobic slur in his eye black. The team suffered some of the most lopsided defeats in its 35-year history.

Indeed, infielder Omar Vizquel was right in calling out Farrell and his coaching staff for mismanaging young players, and Vizquel should know – the 45-year-old infielder played for some of baseball’s best and worst franchises over his 24-year career. In terms of ensuring his players were accountable and maintained a certain level of professionalism, clearly Farrell was out of his depth.

And for all the talk about how Farrell had been a masterful pitching coach prior to joining the Jays, it was Toronto’s pitching in 2012 that was most disappointing. The team’s starters – considered to be the envy of the league going into Spring Training – were a confusing mess by the time the season wrapped up, personified by Ricky Romero, who started the season 8-1 and finished it by losing 13 in a row. Brandon Morrow was the team’s only double-digit winner, finishing the year a paltry 10-7.

Say what you will about Farrell’s pedigree, he clearly failed as manager of the Jays last year. So if he wants to pull the plug on the mess he’d created in Toronto to take his “dream job” back in Beantown, more power to him.

It will be interesting to see how Farrell manages the Sox, who have an even more polarizing mix of high-paid stars and inexperienced prospects than Toronto does. Terry Francona was run out of town for not having a tight enough leash on his all-star players despite two World Series titles, and Bobby Valentine just pissed everyone off. Farrell’s return to the Sox dugout won’t be a picnic.

In the meantime, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos manages to acquire another reclamation project in infielder Mike Aviles and at the same time can set the team on a new course with a new manager in 2013.

So good luck in Boston, John. The Jays will be better off without you.