The Business of the Red Sox

The Business Behind the Red Sox

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            With new management in line, the Red Sox are set up to have a good future, but after all of the recent problems the team has faced, the Front Office will have to make a lot of changes if it wants success. 

The Red Sox are one of the most respected franchises in modern history.  The organization is well known for it’s marketing, successful merchandising, and outstanding players.

            Although the Red Sox have won a few World Championships in the past, the team is currently struggling to stay strong.  “The team looked a little lackluster,” said Boston student Cody Marcroft about seeing a Red Sox game.  Marcroft explains that he is sad to see Theo Epstein, the old General Manager leave the team, especially since he was there for the World Championships. 

The whole organization has been facing many new struggles recently.  One of the biggest struggles is the organization having to deal with the drinking in the dugout scandal. 

A few months ago, it was brought into light that a few of the players had been found drinking alcoholic beverages in the dugout.  This stirred a lot of controversy about the team.  Emotions among the fans put a lot of pressure on the franchise to fix this problem.  While the accused players came forward and confessed, the players have not faced consequences at this point. 

“With an organization like the Red Sox, they can’t stay down for too long,” said Boston student Blake Edwards.  Edwards and many other Red Sox fans believe that the organization is strong and will bounce back quickly from this slight downfall. 

While the players are an important part of the organization, they are not the only ones who are needed to keep this business strong. 

The members of the Front Office play a big part in the franchise, whether it is creating events to advertise the team or more promotional videos.  The Front Office determines how the team is run. 

“You have a fan base and a group of front office personnel who all want the same thing, who are all extremely passionate,” explained Troup Parkinson, the Senior Vice President of Client Services. 

The current President of the team, Larry Lucchino, has put together a group of people who know how to work together to run a team and have a clear direction as to what the organization needs in order to be as successful as possible.

One of the more recent additions to the Front Office is the new General Manager, Ben Cherington.  While Cherington has worked in the team’s baseball operations office, he is new to the GM position. 

Cherington has a good relationship to the former GM, Theo Epstein, which makes the change a bit easier for the team. 

“I think his philosophy will be a little different,” said Parkinson concerning how Cherington would run the Front Office differently than Epstein. 

With Cherington on board, the Front Office hopes to see a lot of positive outcomes in the future.  Although there will be a difference in how the team is run, the Front Office expects many great things with the new leadership. 

Another new member of the Red Sox organization is Manager Bobby Valentine.  Valentine was only recently hired as Manager, after managing the Texas Rangers and the New York Mets.

 “On the field, it’ll be very different.  We hired a manager who is extremely passionate, extremely enthusiastic,” says Parkinson. The Manager’s job is to run the on-field operations; everyone is hopeful that Valentine can do this job well. 

Before the organization hired Cherington and Valentine, everyone was worried that the team would not be able to come back from the downward direction that the team has been heading in. 

“Now we feel like we can move forward and have an exciting off season,” said Parkinson.  Now everyone is hopeful that the team will head in an upward direction. 

Both Ben Cherington and Bobby Valentine have plans in action to give the franchise the direction it needs to improve.  With these improvements and changes, the Front Office thinks that things look very good and very exciting. 

“We are set up to be very successful on the field but I think we are also very well set up to be very successful on the business side,” said Parkinson.  With this success in store, the organization hopes to see another World Championship in the near future.