Antonetti added to Sox' list
Lajoie decides to rejoin team
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, who has been out of sight since contract talks with Theo Epstein disintegrated 10 days ago, arrives here today, along with team chairman Tom Werner, to conduct interviews for Epstein's successor as general manager.
Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden is the only announced candidate scheduled to meet with Lucchino and Werner here, though the Red Sox have also asked permission to interview Indians assistant GM Chris Antonetti, who is here for the baseball general managers' meetings. Jim Beattie, who was Baltimore's executive vice president of baseball operations and shared GM responsibilities with Mike Flanagan before being dismissed, is scheduled to meet with Lucchino Friday in Boston.
In a surprise, the Red Sox announced last night that Bill Lajoie, who had resigned within minutes of Epstein, citing loyalty to Epstein as his reason for leaving, has rejoined the club with a slightly different title. Lajoie, previously listed as a special assistant to the general manager/scouting, has been given the new title of special adviser/baseball operations.
His primary focus, the club said, will be on professional scouting, trades, and free agent acquisitions, but the former Detroit Tigers GM will also assist on the GM search.
''I talked to Larry today and came to the conclusion he would like me to come back and help out," said Lajoie, who added that he had not spoken with Epstein.
Antonetti, 30, has spent seven years with the Indians, the last four in his current position, one in which he oversaw the team's information systems, was involved in player procurement, and was the point man in contract negotiations. A former student manager for the Georgetown University basketball team, Antonetti has a master's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts.
Another name that has surfaced as a virtually certain candidate is Dayton Moore, the Atlanta Braves' director of player personnel. The 38-year-old Moore, who previously worked in amateur and international scouting for the Braves and has occupied his current position since 1994, was described yesterday by another major league executive as a ''young John Schuerholz."
That's a reference to the current dean of major league general managers, who has directed the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles.
The Red Sox, if they were inclined to create a stir, could approach the Cubs about their general manager, Jim Hendry, who has a year left on his contract and has a strong background in player evaluation, a quality Lucchino values highly. Two other GMs, Kevin Towers of the Padres and Doug Melvin of the Brewers, both made it known they were not interested in leaving their current positions, Melvin last weekend signing a contract extension.
In Epstein's absence, Red Sox business here has been conducted by the Gang of Four: Jed Hoyer, Peter Woodfork, Ben Cherington and Craig Shipley, all of whom played key roles under Epstein in baseball operations. The group conversed yesterday with Scott Boras, Johnny Damon's agent, and plan to meet with him today, a meeting which could include Lucchino.
Yesterday, all four declined to comment when asked if they'd been asked to interview for the GM vacancy.
Lajoie, 71, had said last week that he expected to retire. His return was greeted with enthusiasm by the Sox four-man team, which met with clubs and agents yesterday but declined to reveal any specifics.
Manny Ramírez, meanwhile, might be disappointed if he has his heart set on playing in Anaheim, which is by no means a certainty (one of his better friends on the Sox said the day after the World Series ended that Ramírez was staying). Unless Ramírez is willing to be a DH -- and the Angels believe he isn't -- they don't know where he'd play. Garret Anderson is the incumbent left fielder, and he doesn't want to DH, either.
One of the first orders of business for a new Boston GM will be sorting out the Ramirez issue; the Mets are expected to take another run at him, but unless the Sox are convinced that he wants out, they could well hold onto him.
Red Sox efforts in Venezuela have been disrupted by the resignation of most of the key members of the team's operation there, led by Miguel Garcia. Shipley, who is special assistant to the GM for player development and international scouting, said he was not blindsided by the resignations, which included Garcia and seven other scouts. ''Nothing blindsides me in this game anymore," he said, ''but yes, I was surprised."
One of Boston's more highly regarded pitching prospects, Anibal Sanchez, is from Venezuela, though he signed with the Sox in 2001 before Garcia and his group took over.
Garcia's defection -- he has yet to sign on with another club -- appears to involve the loss of the facility the Sox were using in Venezuela, although Shipley said that matter was still being resolved. Shipley said the organization is still deciding whether to continue a co-op team in the Venezuelan summer league or fold those prospects into the team's Dominican academy.
Jon DiPuglia, who had been the team's South Florida area scout and also served as a Latin American cross-checker, has been named the team's Latin American scouting coordinator; DiPuglia held similar positions with the Giants and Cardinals.
Two scouts elected to stay with the Sox -- Ernesto Gomez, who becomes the Venezuelan supervisor, and Jovel Jimenez -- and other scouts have been added, including Hernando Veracierto, who had been in the Sox system as a player in Venezuela and got high grades from Shipley.
The Dominican operation has undergone some reorganization in the last year and a half, Shipley said, but the key man there remains Jesus Alou, who heads the Dominican academy. 