Post by Zig on Feb 16, 2015 8:29:06 GMT -5
Larry Lucchino has been a lightning rod in Red Sox Nation for most of his 13 years as team president and CEO -- some liking him, some hating him -- but you can count the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy as one of his supporters.
"I'm a Lucchino guy." he told Trenni Kusnierek on Comcast SportsNet's Sports Sunday. "I think he has been a great, Hall of Fame baseball executive talent. I know nobody want to hear that, but his work with the Orioles, Padres and here is proven."
The question is: Is that work coming to an end? Or at least being diminished?
Shaughnessy reported in Monday's Boston Globe that Lucchino may be losing a power struggle to Michael Gordon, one of the Red Sox' limited partners. Shaughnessy said Gordon, a member of the partnership since John Henry and Tom Werner bought the franchise in December 2001, recently purchased all the stock previously owned by the New York Times and is the team's second-biggest investor.
"He's a force," Shaughnessy told Kusnierek.
And he may be taking on some, if not all of the tasks, formerly held by Lucchino. Which were considerable, as Henry noted during his impromptu interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Felger & Mazz show in the fall of 2011 when he said: "Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox."
"It's pretty clear from a lot of sources -- I talked to a lot of people for this story -- that Larry's getting squeezed out a little bit," said Shaughnessy. "It's been 13 years, he's going to be 70 years old in September, no one seems to be fighting this too much . . . "
The question is, who is being replaced with? Gordon is almost a completely unknown public entity.
"No one knows who this guy is," said Shaughnessy, later adding: "I couldn't pick him out of a lineup.
"But he has emerged . . . [He] runs Liverpool (the Liverpool soccer team, for Fenway Sports Group), he's been more involved. He's been there since they came in 2001 and it appears he's the new power behind the throne in the John Henry Red Sox empire.
"He is the Ernie Adams of the Red Sox so far," Shaughnessy continued, comparing him to the reclusive friend of Bill Belichick who holds powerful, if secretive, sway over the goings-on with the Patriots. "No one knows anything. He's a great philanthropist, a wonderful man. He does great things for the Jimmy Fund in a very quiet way, I know that. I know that (retired commissioner) Bud Selig basically delivered him to the Red Sox as part of the bag job of transfer of ownership in 2001. He comes here with Bud's recommendation . . .
Later, Shaughnessy added: "I think Gordon is emerging as a guy who John [Henry] is really listening to."
Why Lucchino is being marginalized is a different question. Despite the many controversies -- his feud with Theo Epstein is widely believed to be the reason Epstein briefly walked away from the Sox in 2005, and he also was faulted in some circles for the disastrous Bobby Valentine hiring in 2012 and the bungled Jon Lester negotiations last year -- he'd always seemed to have Henry's backing.
"The Lester thing, maybe he ends up being the fall guy on this thing," Shaughnessy speculated. "It wasn't handled well; by their own admission, it wasn't handled well . . . He's been here a long time. He's assembled a lot of well-earned enemies, as people do in those positions."
Shaughnessy isn't one of them. And he thinks "it's not good for the future of the Red Sox" without Lucchino.
"I think if they don't value him, or let him run the show, I think it's a loss for the Red Sox. Yes, I do."
www.csnne.com/boston-red-sox/shaughnessy-lucchino-being-squeezed-out-red-sox
"I'm a Lucchino guy." he told Trenni Kusnierek on Comcast SportsNet's Sports Sunday. "I think he has been a great, Hall of Fame baseball executive talent. I know nobody want to hear that, but his work with the Orioles, Padres and here is proven."
The question is: Is that work coming to an end? Or at least being diminished?
Shaughnessy reported in Monday's Boston Globe that Lucchino may be losing a power struggle to Michael Gordon, one of the Red Sox' limited partners. Shaughnessy said Gordon, a member of the partnership since John Henry and Tom Werner bought the franchise in December 2001, recently purchased all the stock previously owned by the New York Times and is the team's second-biggest investor.
"He's a force," Shaughnessy told Kusnierek.
And he may be taking on some, if not all of the tasks, formerly held by Lucchino. Which were considerable, as Henry noted during his impromptu interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Felger & Mazz show in the fall of 2011 when he said: "Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox."
"It's pretty clear from a lot of sources -- I talked to a lot of people for this story -- that Larry's getting squeezed out a little bit," said Shaughnessy. "It's been 13 years, he's going to be 70 years old in September, no one seems to be fighting this too much . . . "
The question is, who is being replaced with? Gordon is almost a completely unknown public entity.
"No one knows who this guy is," said Shaughnessy, later adding: "I couldn't pick him out of a lineup.
"But he has emerged . . . [He] runs Liverpool (the Liverpool soccer team, for Fenway Sports Group), he's been more involved. He's been there since they came in 2001 and it appears he's the new power behind the throne in the John Henry Red Sox empire.
"He is the Ernie Adams of the Red Sox so far," Shaughnessy continued, comparing him to the reclusive friend of Bill Belichick who holds powerful, if secretive, sway over the goings-on with the Patriots. "No one knows anything. He's a great philanthropist, a wonderful man. He does great things for the Jimmy Fund in a very quiet way, I know that. I know that (retired commissioner) Bud Selig basically delivered him to the Red Sox as part of the bag job of transfer of ownership in 2001. He comes here with Bud's recommendation . . .
Later, Shaughnessy added: "I think Gordon is emerging as a guy who John [Henry] is really listening to."
Why Lucchino is being marginalized is a different question. Despite the many controversies -- his feud with Theo Epstein is widely believed to be the reason Epstein briefly walked away from the Sox in 2005, and he also was faulted in some circles for the disastrous Bobby Valentine hiring in 2012 and the bungled Jon Lester negotiations last year -- he'd always seemed to have Henry's backing.
"The Lester thing, maybe he ends up being the fall guy on this thing," Shaughnessy speculated. "It wasn't handled well; by their own admission, it wasn't handled well . . . He's been here a long time. He's assembled a lot of well-earned enemies, as people do in those positions."
Shaughnessy isn't one of them. And he thinks "it's not good for the future of the Red Sox" without Lucchino.
"I think if they don't value him, or let him run the show, I think it's a loss for the Red Sox. Yes, I do."
www.csnne.com/boston-red-sox/shaughnessy-lucchino-being-squeezed-out-red-sox
