BOSTON -- New owners could be just the first of many
front-office changes for the Boston Red Sox.
The group led by John Henry and Tom Werner declined to give
general manager Dan Duquette a vote of confidence after the sale
was approved at the baseball meetings in Phoenix on Wednesday
night.
Since the sale was announced last month, Duquette and his
handpicked manager, Joe Kerrigan, have been waiting for word on how
to proceed for the coming season -- whether to sign a second baseman
or just update their resumes.
"We aren't going to get into any personnel decisions tonight,"
incoming president Larry Lucchino, who once ran the Orioles and
Padres, said after baseball's other owners approved the sale of the
team 29-0, with the New York Yankees abstaining.
"We're going to talk about the excitement, anticipation, the
challenges of the new Boston Red Sox," Lucchino said. "So
tonight's a day for celebration, gratitude, appreciation, but not
that kind of decision making."
The Red Sox are 656-574 in Duquette's eight years, making the
playoffs twice as a wildcard and once as AL East champs but
advancing to the second round just once, in 1999.
He has shown occasional shrewd judgment -- making Nomar
Garciaparra his first-ever draft pick and luring Pedro Martinez
from the salary-dumping Montreal Expos -- but the good moves are
often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of roster tinkering that has
failed to end the franchise's 83-year championship drought.
The Red Sox were in the middle of the playoff race when Duquette
tabbed Kerrigan, a pitching coach who had never managed, on Aug.
16. But they went 17-26 after that, losing nine in a row and 13 of
14 at one point to drop out of contention.
Henry, who still has to unload the Florida Marlins and his 1
percent ownership of the Yankees, leads a group that will pay $660
million for the Red Sox, Fenway Park and 80 percent of the New
England Sports Network. They will also assume about $40 million in
Red Sox debt.
The deal isn't expected to close for another month or so. Until
then, player moves will be made by Duquette and his staff, "we
hope after consultation with our group," Lucchino said. "We're
certainly not going to have any authority until after closing."
As for Duquette: "I think it is utterly inappropriate to
discuss specific individuals and their future with the team,"
Lucchino said. "We have to have collaboration with, and
discussions with, individuals. We wouldn't come to a decision until
after closing."
Working against a front-office shake-up is the fact that spring
training starts in less than a month -- Kerrigan was planning on
going to Florida right after the Feb. 3 Super Bowl -- and shuffling
the deck at this point could cause more problems than it solves.
"We are a significant way into the baseball year," Lucchino
said, noting that the work to build a team begins before the
regular season even ends.
Working for the change is the fear that a lame-duck front office
will have difficulty winning respect from a clubhouse that has
already shown a willingness to be disrespectful. Among the changes
promised by the new owners is an emphasis on character, a strategy
Duquette turned to only after the 2001 season was scuttled by
turmoil.
Henry told the Boston Herald he was "very concerned" about the
way the year ended.
"The pride of wearing the Red Sox uniform has to be first and
foremost," he told the paper.
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