The Boston Red Sox promoted longtime club executive Mike Hazen to senior vice president/general manager on Thursday.
Hazen, 39, has served in various capacities during the past decade with the Red Sox. His duties have ranged from player acquisitions and evaluations to contract negotiations and scouting. He replaces Ben Cherington, who resigned in August
In January, the Red Sox named Hazen as a senior vice president/assistant general manager. He had been an assistant GM under Cherington since 2011 after Cherington replaced Theo Epstein, who left for the Chicago Cubs.
Epstein hired Hazen, a Massachusetts native, as the Red Sox’s director of player development in 2006.
“Over his 10 years with the Red Sox, Mike has proven to be an invaluable member of the baseball operations department,” Red Sox vice president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have him in this position and I’m excited to have him working with me on every aspect of baseball operations.”
Hazen had in the past been a contender for general manager jobs with the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers and reportedly was a finalist with the Los Angeles Angels.
“Today is a great day for the Boston Red Sox,” executive vice president/chief operating officer Sam Kennedy said. “Mike’s leadership, work ethic, and passion for the game are second to none. His experience, combined with his local roots, make him the perfect choice to work alongside Dave as we head into 2016.”
Boston interim manager Torey Lovullo also praised the promotion.
“I think it’s a very well-deserved honor,” Lovullo said. “Somebody who’s been in the system for 10 years. He started at the backbone of the organization in player development and worked his way through the system. He’s a local guy and I think he’s going to be a great asset to Dave. It was a good hire for the Boston Red Sox.”
Before joining the Red Sox, Hazen worked for the Cleveland Indians for five years and with Lovullo, who awas a minor-league manager in the Cleveland system.
Hazen is fine with the structure of the organization and reporting to Dombrowski.
“Obviously, the role of general manager will be a little bit different here with Dave, but power’s not something that any of us talk about or look at. Dave is going to be making the decisions in the end. I believe that the things that we’ve done here underneath the hood on the major league team and player development, and amateur scouting and international scouting and all those other things, we’ll continue to drive that forward and help put Dave in the best position possible to make the best decisions possible for the Red Sox.”