The Boston Red Sox have hired Tony La Russa to work in the front office aiding president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.
The Boston Red Sox are adding a wealth of experience to their front office.
The team announced on Thursday that they have hired Tony La Russa as their new vice president and special assistant to the president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski.
The #RedSox today announced that they have hired Tony La Russa as Vice President, Special Assistant to the President of Baseball Operations.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) November 2, 2017
La Russa has 33 years of experience as a major league manager. He led the Oakland A’s to a World Series title in 1989 and managed two championship team with the St. Louis Cardinals (2006, 2011). He met Dombrowski in 1979 when he was given his first shot to manage in the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox. Dombrowski was working in Chicago’s front office at the time and the two have remained friends for nearly 40 years.
The 73-year old spent the last four years as a chief baseball analyst for the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to ESPN, when La Russa announced his decision to leave the Diamondbacks he indicated he wasn’t interested in managing again but wanted to remain in baseball. Reuniting with his old friend Dombrowski seems like an ideal situation for him.
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The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham shed some light on what some of La Russa’s responsibilities will be with the Red Sox. La Russa will be involved with player development and consult with major and minor league coaching staffs.
After being eliminated in the first round of the postseason in consecutive years, the Red Sox fired manager John Farrell and will replace him with Alex Cora, who is fresh off winning a World Series as bench coach of the Houston Astros. Cora was considered to be among the top new managerial candidates and the Red Sox were wise to scoop him up. He’s known as someone who communicates well with players and should be able to relate to the young core of this roster in ways Farrell never could.
However, Cora’s lack of experience as a major league manager leaves him unproven in the role. While he seems more than capable of handling his new position, having a former manager with over 30 years of success to turn to for advice certainly couldn’t hurt. It’s unclear how much La Russa will be around the team to interact with the players or manager but he should certainly be available for Cora to lean on if needed.
La Russa could also be a beneficial influence on Dombrowski. If one of his responsibilities will be player development then he’ll be as familiar with the young players and prospects in the organization as anyone. Dombrowski has a long history of unloading the farm system for win-now moves. Dealing for Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel certainly worked in Boston’s favor, while giving up on Travis Shaw clearly hasn’t panned out. An experienced eye for talent like La Russa could help reel Dombrowski in on some of his overzealous trade proposals.
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While his glory days as a player and manager are long behind him, La Russa’s vast experience can still be an asset to the Red Sox. He’s a voice that Dombrowski trusts to advise him in the front office and he can provide advice to a rookie manager.