Longtime Red Sox executive Allard Baird leaves team to join the Mets
By Geoff Guerin
Boston Red Sox Senior VP of Player Personnel Allard Baird has left to join the New York Mets. Baird had been with the team since 2006.
Just one month after a World Series championship, Boston Red Sox Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Allard Baird is leaving the team to join the New York Mets front office, according to Ken Rosenthal. He will assume the role of Vice President/Assistant GM of Scouting and Player Development for the Mets.
Baird has been with Boston since 2006, where he first started as a special assignment scout. He quickly rose through the organization and eventually became an assistant to GM Theo Epstein later that year. In 2011, Baird was named Vice President of Player Personnel and Scouting, a position he held until taking on his most recent role in 2015.
At 57 years old, this will be the third Major League Baseball team to hire Baird. Prior to joining the Red Sox, Baird spent eighteen years with the Kansas City Royals organization. After working his way up the Royals’ front office, he was named the team’s GM in 2000 and held the position until 2006.
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Baird was extremely instrumental to the Red Sox’ success over the last twelve years, and especially had an eye for talent. He was very hands-on in the scouting and draft process, overseeing the addition of key players including 2018 American League MVP Mookie Betts.
While this is a big loss for the Red Sox front office, it doesn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise. This same type of organizational “poaching” has recently occurred among other successful teams, most notably the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. Astros bench coach Alex Cora became the Red Sox manager following the 2017 World Series, and recent Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi joined the San Francisco Giants just a few weeks ago.
A New Hampshire native, Baird has been on the Mets radar for quite a while. Back in 2010, he was a candidate to become New York’s next GM. However, the team decided to move forward with Sandy Alderson at the time. Now, with new GM Brodie Van Wagenen in place, the Mets have finally brought Baird on board to assist with their rebuild.
Although there was speculation as to how the Red Sox would work around the switch, Dave Dombrowski has stated that the organization will fill Baird’s role internally. There is no doubt though just how much of an impact he’s had during his time with the team, especially with the wave of young talent that finally came together to deliver a third ring for the Red Sox since 2006.
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What may be most impressive was Baird’s remarkable consistency within the scouting and player development departments amidst several major front office changes. His importance became increasingly significant as his role continued to expand under Ben Cherington and most recently, Dave Dombrowski. This is the first real shakeup for a team that had experienced a fairly quiet first month of the offseason.