The 2023 season didn't go well for either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox to say the least. The two traditional MLB powerhouses finished at the bottom of the AL East and entered this offseason with a lot of question marks on both rosters. The Yankees' offense struggled mightily and New York hopes that adding Juan Soto will solve that problem while the Red Sox couldn't pitch to save their lives.
Heads rolled as a result of both teams underachieving in 2023. The Yankees fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson at midseason and the rest of the coaching staff is very much on notice going into 2024. Boston went even further than that and axed Chaim Bloom and hired Craig Breslow to run their front office.
Going back to Lawson for a moment, a hitting coach getting blamed for the Yankees' shoddy roster construction is like blaming a faulty windshield wiper for an engine blowing up. Boston seems to agree with that assessment as they hired Lawson to serve as a minor league hitting coordinator.
Red Sox hire Dillon Lawson after Yankees tossed him out at midseason
First, the idea that Boston snatched up a former Yankees coach is deeply funny and is going to be even funnier if it works out well for the Red Sox. The Yankees have a lot of things going for him as an organization, but making sound personnel decisions isn't one of them. If Lawson succeeds in Boston, it will not go unnoticed in the Yankees' front office.
It is important to note that Lawson's responsibilities are going to be very different with the Red Sox, though. With New York, Lawson was tasked with getting an aging lineup that struggles to stay healthy and on track. With Boston, he is going to be mentoring young position players as they come up through their farm system and getting them prepared for the big leagues and making adjustments along the way. Importantly, Lawson has experience as a successful minor league hitting coordinator with the Yankees, so he does appear to have the skillset to be good at his new gig.
Whether Lawson fails or not in his new role with the Red Sox, it will be fun to see the fallout between the two organizations that have one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports.