Larry Lucchino Is Out As CEO Of the Boston Red Sox
On the verge of their third last place finish in four years, almost everything has changed except for the front office. That is, until now.
We all remember the incident when Red Sox principal owner John Henry famously stormed the 98.5 The Sports Hub studios in September of 2011, and adamantly proclaimed that “Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox”. In that same interview, Henry indirectly said that Lucchino would be the CEO of the Red Sox for as long as he wanted to be. This was also just months before former Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein split for the Chicago Cubs, after years of reports of a power struggle between he and Lucchino.
After Saturday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Globe reported that Larry Lucchino is out as the CEO of the Boston Red Sox. According to the report, Lucchino said, “I’ll be 70 in September. That’s sort of why I’m ready to step back.” I think the fans are smart enough to know that this situation wasn’t in his hands as much as he would like people to think. According to a source — yeah, Barstool has sources, too — I was told that Henry was in a meeting this morning about “pushing Lucchino out”, so take that for what it’s worth.
For some, this news may come as somewhat of a surprise, but the man who reported it has been on top of this since this past February, when he asked, “Are the Red Sox shifting away from Larry Lucchino?” This was greeted with reports such as this one, stating that “there is no power struggle among Red Sox ownership,” and that “Larry Lucchino is still running the show.” That was just this past February, and now he’s gone.
A lot will be said in the wake of his dismissal, but let’s take a second to consider what he helped to accomplish during his near-fourteen seasons as President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox. First and foremost, whether you wanted him to or not, he saved Fenway Park, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that. Sure, many fans wanted a new stadium, but Fenway Park might be a parking lot right now if not for Lucchino, and I’m sure we can all be thankful for that. And if he truly did “run the Red Sox” as Henry claimed, then we have three World Series titles to thank him for.
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But with praise, also comes criticism. Since 2011, with a World Series title mixed in, the Red Sox have been complete and utter failures, especially given all of their financial resources. They’ve blown the team up twice since then, but if someone has to fall on the sword during this era of ineptitude, I think they started with the right guy — the man who runs the Red Sox.
The Boston Globe story notes that current Red Sox COO Sam Kennedy is expected to replace Lucchino as the new CEO of the team.
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