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.
Stupid Mets are gonna hire Wren
not the Jays, O’s, or Cards?
Wren won’t work for the Toxic Blue Jays.
oh darn you have a point
Wren’s already worked for O’s – how do you think he honed his skills to burn through cash?
Makes sense after a rough decade for the poor ol’ Sawx.
PLEASE tell me that LaRussa is gone, too!!
I think we’re all waiting for that shoe to drop, too.
After how LaRussa embarrassed the sport by pushing his boy Baines into the HOF, I hope so. The man is brilliant and changed the way relief pitchers are used but I think the game has passed him. I’ve said it before, it was fine for him to preach Baines’ credentials but there was a conflict for him to also vote. Just doesn’t pass the smell test. Past patronized mistakes didn’t make it right last year and the team needs less but clearer voices.
Every single person who votes for the hall of fame has some conflict or another. You can’t be enough of an “expert” to vote for the hall and avoid forming relationships both positive and negative throughout the sport at the same time, it takes too much involvement
Appreciate the response but I learned years ago the perception of a conflict is all it takes and clearly voting on a player you managed and likely developed a personal relationship with to me crossed that line. I could be wrong but there must be a better way. How about the veterans committee preaching the virtues of the neglected and overlooked but then having veteran, retired writers who saw those players play actually vote and save the committee for those even older who have no one left to stomp for? 12 votes and there were 3 I recall with a personal connection to Baines. 1/3rd of the required total. My problem is with the percentage of the voting size.
I meant to say 12 needed votes (out of 16).
Ya I get that and I totally agree, there’s got to be a better way for the HOF voting.
For me I don’t like the politics that go into it, like people not voting for clearly deserving people because they know they will be on the ballot next year, that one guy that refuses to make a player unanimous, etc.
Agreed. By the way Albert Belle stats wise is the biggest oversight of my generation.
I’m not sure why theres such a outcry for babies. I saw him play he was a beast. Off the top of my head Career .285 close to .360 obp. Close to 400 hrs over 1600 rbis 22 seasons only struck out 100 times once. Hes not a clear cut hof but hes a marginal hof and so is fred mcgfiff and others. I have no issues w baines being elected would not have an issue if the crime dog got elected he was a beast too.
As “Crime Dog” and “Fire Dog” Fred McGriff stated.
“My stats are real”. “I didn’t cheat like so many others did”.
Some of those cheaters are in the Hall.
McGriff should be in the Hall.
Might we see Pedroia , Varitek and other former Sox players assume positions.
I like the house cleaning . I see the Sox being a major player in the post season.
Shake it up boys!
Look at The Rays GM. That org has a great track record for drafting pitchers and developing them in house.
I assume you mean free Agency you rather than playoffs.
Not going to the playoffs and unless major trades free up $$$, they’re not going to be big players in the free agency market. This year is the time to reset again their tax threshold in case they do resign Betts to an extension. I love Mookie but it all depends on cost. If they extend him and don’t lose JDM, they will have little maneuverability.
He said post season not postseason, as in after the season aka the off-season lol
LOL.
Figure Chatham (2nd, 2016) will get some AB’s come 2020. Houck (1st, 2017) some innings next year. Possible Dalbec (4th, 2016) gets some AB’s in 2020 and wouldn’t shock me if Duran (7th, 2018) got some time in late next season.
Drafts weren’t bad under Dombrowski.. Some injuries (Groome 1st 2016) just back from TJ. Song drafted 4th this year might be the best guy they took out of Navy. Casas (1st 2018) is several years away, but still just 19 and mashing.
Next dump should be Dana LeVangie. Worst coach ever.
I agree with needing to move on from Lavangie… nothing against the guy personally but I’ve got to say I feel like a former pitcher is probably a better bet to be a pitching coach than a former catcher. I mean it just seems like there’d be a natural disconnect, regardless of how intelligent or knowledgeable about the sport one could be. There’s just such a big difference between studying pitching mechanics/etc. and actually having worked on them and known them for yourself.
In today’s game, his position doesn’t seem important. Players today have so many ways to get assistance be it from film, other players or personal assistants that the batting, pitching and catching coaches seem more interchangeable than ever. I look at JDM and the way he helped other Sox batters and believe more should be on the pitchers themselves in a similar way.
I’ll be shocked if LeVangie isn’t fired in short order. The betting is that Varitek replaces him.
Groome is an interesting one to watch. New Jersey has produced Porcello. We’ll see what happens.
Porcello…as in porcelain? Like a…toilet?
0I remember Eddie Bane’s
1974 baseball card! It was
a nice picture…..
There’s a reason why the Braves fired wren. How does he continue to get jobs
He only got the job with the Sox because of Dombrowski… it was a package deal of sorts. Who knows what/if impact he had but obviously the Red Sox didn’t think he had any value as they basically fired him as soon as Dealer Dave was out the door!
My favorite idea of wren as a Braves GM was when he said his front office didn’t see a correlation between strikeouts and run productivity. Hmmm. Back to the drawing board wren tard
What do you mean? A correlation between K’s and Run Productivity…? Do you mean ‘run prevention’ from a pitching side of things or are you saying offensively K’s negatively impact the ability of a team to score…? Not exactly sure what your reference is to.
He claimed that on the offensive side strikeouts don’t affect run production. The whole idea was that if you only hit homeruns you don’t need to worry about strikeouts. Horrible baseball ideology
That’s the new trend. Bombs or Ks. It’s boring. Fire Rob Manfred.
This season, the top 10 teams in slg% are also the top 10 in runs. 8 of the top 10 HR hitting teams are in the top 10 for runs. Only 6 of the top 10 teams in K% are top 10 in runs. It looks like hitting the ball hard and far is more important than limiting strike outs in MLB.
Eddie, Call the Twins.
Owners be like…
Coincidence or collusion? Wren – whom ridiculously traded away Teixeira from ATL to LAA for Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek, forgoing the compensatory draft pick attached to losing Tex when he inevitably signed with NYY – is let go the same day as the man, Mane, that selected Trout with the compensatory draft pick.
I’m not bitter. You’re bitter.
The Angels also had the pick before the one they used to draft Trout. They used it to daft Grichuk.
Dombrowski, Wren and LaRussa represent the not so distant past. Since then depth in both the 40 man roster and the farm system have become very important. Bullpens are critical and probably more important than starting pitching. Those guys didn’t get it as they tended to go after big names and the eight starting position players. The Oakland, Tampa, and the new Giants front office get it. One individual who has made a successful transition is Brian Cashman.
Cash is good and has made some good moves. Cash has also made some very bad moves that cost the Yankees at least 1 if not more WS titles..
Verlander was available for the taking and even passed through the August waiver wire. Cashman could not get a deal done.
Astros win their WS Championship on the back of Verlander.
Gerrit Cole?
Cash dropped the ball on that one too!
Dallas Keichel?!
Cash could have had him after the baseball and rule 5 draft for 15=18M 1 year or longer..?!
Trading for Giancarlo Stanton?!
Overkill on offense.
Would have rather had them land another top of the line starter with that $$$$ either trade or FA.
I could go on and on but you get the picture.
Cash IS WAY OVERRATED!
Come back to the Angels please!
Red Sox have made some bone headed moves regarding Front Office personnel
over the last many years including: losing Epstein, firing Cherington, Firing Dombrowksi.
No surprise that one of the principal owners of Red Sox was part owner and learned his trade under George Steinbrenner. lol!
Dombrowski is a Hall of Fame Executive who had built farm systems at top MLB baseball teams in Montreal, Miami etc.
In Detroit and Boston, Owners Dictated a “Win Now /Do Anything to Win”.
Dombrowski followed his Owners’ Directives.
To Scapegoat Dombrowski for doing what his bosses dictated that he do is
f-ing ridiculous.!
From what I have read around baseball, Red Sox Ownership are getting a reputatoin
as a very difficult outfit to work for.
Red Sox GMs get fired for building farm systems to win a World Series.
Then, Red Sox GMs get fired for trading to win another World Series?!
How does a New GM top what the other 2 guys before him did
(3 counting Theo Epstein)?!
Many potential candidates for GM from the Outside are passing on the Red Sox GM job….including former Red Sox Front Office Employee Mike Hazen.
Good Luck finding an experienced GM to work for Red Sox ownership lol!
Love that the Red Sox keep firing everybody without a GM or Baseball Operations person. True scorched earth approach. Not sure how this is going to help in 2020, especially if they trade away Betts.