Hours after Theo Epstein officially took over as president of baseball operations in Chicago the Red Sox introduced longtime assistant Ben Cherington as their new executive vice president and general manager. Though the move’s been all-but-official for some time now, Cherington was publicly introduced during a news conference today at Fenway Park.
Cherington, who’s been with the organization since 1999, admitted that “the last few weeks have been painful” for the Red Sox and that the clubs’ fans have been let down. Even so, Cherington believes that going forward, “the Red Sox will be the most successful organization in baseball”.
Cherington started out as an area scout for the Red Sox. His rise through the organization was accelerated when Epstein was named general manager in 2002. Cherington has held titles such as vice president of player personnel, assistant GM and even co-general manager during Epstein’s brief hiatus in 2005-06.
With this resume, Cherington was the favorite to replace Epstein ever since the Chicago rumors began. Red Sox president and CEO Larry Lucchino says that Cherington’s “rolled up his sleeves, he’s done the work” and that he has won the respect of management. To Lucchino, Cherington is a “hybrid baseball executive” because of his background in scouting as well as his history in the front office.
Now able to move forward as the official general manager of the Boston Red Sox, Cherington has quite the to-do list. His top priority will be finding a replacement for Terry Francona, before he works on filling out his roster.
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