The writing seems to be on the wall.
There’s a line from the modern masterpiece of a motion picture, Pixar’s Toy Story 2, that has been on my mind as of late when thinking about the Boston Red Sox’s hunt for a new head of the front office.
Wheezy the penguin, a handsome crooner and wise philosopher, had been unable to yell down to his pals while sitting upon Andy’s top shelf on account of his broken squeaker. It takes an arm injury to Ryan Sheriff Woody for Wheezy’s trials and tribulations to be revealed. While waxing poetically about the delicate nature of a toy’s life, Wheezy offers a rhetorical question.
If you ask me (and honestly, I wouldn’t blame ya if ya didn’t) it seems pretty obvious that Romero, who has been serving within the Boston organization as the Assistant General Manager, will eventually be taking over as the head honcho—regardless of what the team wants to call him; General Manager, President of Baseball Operations, Roster Overlord, doesn’t really matter to me.
Romero is already very familiar with the Red Sox and the expectations that revolve around them each year. He first joined the organization way back in 2006—American Idol was still a staple of pop culture, the MCU hadn’t yet begun to saturate super hero movies ad infinitum, and my voice was still squeaky high. That last one is the case even to this day, but still.
Point is: for a team that has been so topsy-turvy when it comes to personnel decisions over the years, having someone with an understanding of what pressure comes with the role can’t hurt. That especially could be true when you consider that some external candidates atop the wish list are reportedly snubbing the Red Sox gig, potentially due to those inconsistencies.
Maybe I was naive to believe that the draw of running the show in Boston, a baseball-crazed market, would’ve been enough to make the job enticing for candidates. But with the benefit of hindsight, I guess a job where you don’t get to have a say in who’s managing the clubhouse—Alex Cora ain’t going anywhere, for better or for worse—and where you may not get enough time to carry out your vision—again, your mileage may vary on that reality—may not be an attractive one to some.
At least Romero has seen that first hand with the characters still in the fold at Fenway. At least, going into the job, he would know all of that from his own experience. At least he’ll be a familiar face as the Red Sox begin a vital off-season.
And hey: maybe Miami’s Michael Hill, who’s also been rumored to be a candidate for the front office role, can navigate all of those factors. But there’s not even confirmation (as far as I’m aware) that the interest is mutual between Hill and the Red Sox.
What we do know is Romero’s background with the Sox and the fact that he’s already been interviewed by the higher-ups in this process. That sure looks like writing on the wall to me. The sooner the decision can be made on this matter, the sooner the new person for the job can get to work on making Boston a competitive team once again.
Make the call, John Henry: offer the GM gig to Eddie Romero already. I know you’re gonna offer it to him, so you might as well go an do it now. I obviously wouldn’t want this decision to be rushed—it just seems like this is what’s going to happen.
Listen to Wheezy.