Red Sox Part Ways With Frank Wren, Eddie Bane

4:45pm: Wren was fired and Bane’s contract wasn’t renewed, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

4:31pm: In the wake of Dave Dombrowski’s firing as general manager, the Red Sox continue to make moves in their front office, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter links) reports that senior VP of baseball operations Frank Wren and special assignment scout Eddie Bane were among the names who are no longer in the organization.  “Many more changes are expected” to come, Heyman writes, including “some reshuffling in the amateur department.”

Such moves as par for the course whenever a GM is replaced, and it wouldn’t be surprising if more new faces are brought in should the Sox hire a new general manager from outside the organization.  The changes in the amateur department could reflect particular dissatisfaction with some of Boston’s recent drafts.  While the Sox have enjoyed great contributions from homegrown players in recent years, almost all of those players were already in the system before Dombrowski was hired in August 2015.  Mike Shawaryn is the only player on Boston’s current big league roster was drafted by Dombrowski’s front office, though naturally, it’s far too soon to judge the 2016-19 draft classes this early.

Wren wasn’t expected to continue in his role, given his longstanding ties to Dombrowski.  Hired for the senior VP/player personnel role soon after Dombrowski was hired, it was the third time Wren had worked with Dombrowski, as the two were also members of the Expos and Marlins front offices when Dombrowski served as general manager of those franchises.  Wren is best known for being a GM himself, overseeing the Braves’ front office from 2007-2014 and also serving a single year as the Orioles’ GM in 1999.

As Heyman notes, Bane’s chief claim to fame is his tenure as the Angels’ scouting director from 2004-10, specifically his work related to the 2009 draft.  That was the year that saw Mike Trout selected 25th overall, which alone would’ve been a huge achievement for Bane and his staff, yet the Halos also drafted several other players (Randal Grichuk, Tyler Skaggs, Garrett Richards, Patrick Corbin) who went onto prominent MLB careers.  Bane has worked in a variety of different front office and scouting roles for the last 35+ years, and was first hired by the Red Sox in October 2012.