After the departures of Red Sox manager Terry Francona and Exec VP & GM Theo Epstein, team President & CEO Larry Lucchino is the "last man standing at Fenway Park," according to Dan Shaughnessy of the BOSTON GLOBE. Controversial, "brilliant, combative, and ever-lawyerly, Lucchino represents the past, present, and future of the 21st century Red Sox." Lucchino will be "calling the shots as the ballclub attempts to rise from the rubble of September/October 2011." Red Sox Exec VP & COO Sam Kennedy said, "The buck stops with Larry." Lucchino said the "governance of the club is invested" in himself, Owner John Henry and Chair Tom Werner. Lucchino: "I am here managing the club, day-to-day. It's not new and it's worked well. Judge us by our body of work." He continued, "It’s hard to be in baseball for 30-plus years and not have clashed with people. But it’s one thing to be a forceful advocate for your franchise and it’s another to be a guy who accumulates enemies while doing that. I’m sure there are people with whom I disagree on a variety of issues, but I can’t think of too many personal enemies." Boston Culinary Group Chair & CEO Joe O'Donnell said, "Larry is without question the most valuable guy in that organization. He's the glue. He's irascible, but maybe you have to be that way in this business." MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said, "When you are bold, you're going to offend some people. Sure, Larry has critics, but does he have the pragmatic knowledge to do this job? No question about it." Kennedy said of Lucchino's relationship with Epstein, "Those two guys are never going to go on vacation together. They're not going to hang out socially at happy hour and make small-talk. But they did work together very effectively and the perception that there's this hatred or distrust is overblown." With Epstein leaving for the Cubs, Lucchino said that he thinks the Red Sox' "baseball ops will work more in concert with the rest of the organization." Lucchino: "I think Ben (new general manager, Ben Cherington) recognizes the importance of integrating baseball operations with all of the other operations we have going on around here." Lucchino is at the end of a 10-year contract and "plans to sign on for another shift." Werner said, "If I was in a canoe, I'd want Larry rowing with me." Lucchino said, "This probably is the most adversity that we've encountered since we've been here. But it just creates a greater opportunity and a greater challenge" (BOSTON GLOBE ,10/30).
DAMAGE CONTROL: In Boston, Nick Cafardo noted Lucchino "will be on full damage control over the next few weeks, spending significant time on radio defending all things Red Sox." Among his talking points will be a "staunch defense of John Henry and Tom Werner (which is what a good CEO should do)" and "staying on message that the negative news that came out on the team was overblown" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/30).
