The Boston Red Sox have named Mike Hazen as their new general manager.
Former GM Ben Cherington announced that he was stepping down in August when Dave Dombrowski was named the team's president of baseball operations.
Hazen has served as an assistant general manager since 2011. Additionally, he was promoted this January to senior vice president - a title he will retain.
"Over his 10 years with the Red Sox, Mike has proven to be an invaluable member of the baseball operations department," Dombrowski said in a statement. "We are thrilled to have him in this position and I'm excited to have him working with me on every aspect of baseball operations."
It's no secret that the Red Sox have been in an era of turmoil - a 2013 World Series championship was bookended by two last-place finishes, with the team in position to follow up with a third this season. Cherington was hired to replace Theo Epstein, who left to head up the Cubs after the catostrophic collapse of a very talented 2011 squad.
That failure saw longtime manager Terry Francona fired - his reputation smeared by a Boston Globe story with leaked details about his divorce and use of pain medications supposedly affecting his work.
Though Cherington was named general manager, it was then-President Larry Lucchino who named Bobby Valentine as Tito's replacement - a decision that ultimately caused the team to bottom out in 2012, leading to Cherington's astounding post-non-waiver-trade-deadline deal with the Dodgers that added prospects and shed more than a quarter of a billion dollars in future payroll obligations in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto.
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While Cherington left in the midst of a bad season and the less-than-perfect offseason additions of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, the team's top target - ace Jon Lester - ended up with Epstein and the Cubs thanks to Lucchino's reported lowball contract extention offer.
Lucchino also left the Red Sox in August. And the team has been managed by Torey Lovullo since manager John Farrell announced he was battling lymphoma.
Considering the amount of change that has been in the air around Fenway Park, many were expecting Dombrowski to look outside the organization for Cherington's replacement. But while the role is officially Hazen's, just as Jed Hoyer is the general manager of the Cubs, Dombrowski figures to maintain an Epstein-like level of say in Boston's roster decisions.
Then again, judging by the volatile nature of the last five Red Sox seasons, it would be bold to make predictions.
Check back for more as this story develops.
