The Toronto Blue Jays have made another late-season front-office hire.
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The Blue Jays have hired former Red Sox GM Ben Cherington on their staff as a vice president of baseball operations, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. He’ll report directly to Toronto general manager Ross Atkins.
A few of his moves over his final two seasons in charge, including handing lucrative contracts to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, first baseman Hanley Ramirez and Cuban prospect Rusney Castillo, played a major part in his downfall with the Red Sox.
With the Blue Jays, Cherington is expected to work in many facets of the front office, though he will focus primarily on player development. From that standpoint, he was great.
Previously, Cherington served as the executive vice-president and general manager of the Red Sox from October 2011 until August 2015, before taking some time to teach at Columbia University earlier this year.
Farrell was hired by Cherington as the Red Sox manager entering the 2013 season, and the Sox skipper noted that he and Cherington have spoken since his departure, but merely an occasional text message and nothing at length.
“His legacy is left here, there’s imprints all over this current team”, Farrell said.
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Though, Boston struggled under Cherington the last couple seasons, and there were questionable signings and trades (most notably Allen Craig and Rusney Castillo), he laid the groundwork of Boston’s young core that is now anchoring the club this season. “And I think Toronto added a quality person and a guy with a tremendous amount of experience”.
