Yankees President Randy Levine said that he is "going to miss his counterpart," Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino, who on Saturday said that he will be stepping down at the end of the year, according to Dan Shaughnessy of the BOSTON GLOBE. Levine: “It’s going to be different without him, that’s for sure. He was a very formidable adversary. A great competitor. We went back and forth for many, many years. He never backed down. I never backed down.’’ He added of Lucchino, "He’s not afraid to throw a haymaker and I’m not afraid to throw a haymaker. It’s all part of the game. It’s part of the rivalry. ... Larry is very smart, he’s a fierce competitor, and he knows his stuff. When he would talk about the difference between the Red Sox and us, we never took that seriously." He added, "At the end of the day, the Red Sox and the Yankees have a lot more in common than they are apart. Sometimes they have Yankee-phobia. They’re too conscious of trying to separate themselves from us. I think they’re more like us" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/6).
WHAT'S NEXT? In Boston, Peter Abraham wonders what will happen with Red Sox Exec VP & Senior Advisor Charles Steinberg now that Lucchino is "on his way out." Steinberg is the person who "orchestrates the pre-game ceremonies the Red Sox handle so well." He "could follow" Lucchino to the Triple-A Int’l League Pawtucket Red Sox or "go off to another project entirely." Lucchino, meanwhile, "deserved a better fate than his transition to a lesser role leaking out on a Saturday night." The Red Sox "should have stayed ahead of a story that everybody knew was coming." Abraham: "Sloppy work, there" (BOSTONGLOBE.com, 8/5). Also in Boston, Michael Silverman notes Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry and Red Sox Chair Tom Werner have "not only not concluded an exit strategy or found a new role, if any, for Lucchino, they also have not settled on a plan for re-shaping baseball operations." It is "not a matter of if, but when the club figures out what to do with that beleaguered department" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/6).
A FRIEND LIKE BEN? In N.Y., Tyler Kepner notes with it very likely that this will be the Red Sox' third last-place finish in the past four seasons, and the fifth time in six years they miss the playoffs, Henry has "expressed strong support" for GM Ben Cherington, and "it is hard to imagine Henry adding another highly paid" exec position above Cherington such as former Tigers President, CEO & GM Dave Dombrowski as President of Baseball Operations. But at the very least, the Red Sox "must re-evaluate the decision-making process that led to their latest failure." The list of "dubious decisions is getting long" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/6). The GLOBE's Abraham noted that Henry in early June "praised Cherington, saying he wanted him to stay as GM for years to come and that the two shared the same philosophies." If that has "changed so dramatically in two months, then Cherington should be fired." If not, "let him run the team under new president Sam Kennedy." Abraham: "But give Cherington some help. The Red Sox need better soldiers, not more generals. Specifically, the Red Sox need to improve how they evaluate, draft and develop pitching" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/6).
