NEW YORK — These will be known as the “25 Days in August,” an unprecedented frenzy of upheaval and turmoil from the bottom to especially the top of the Red Sox chain of command.
In the crammed annals of Red Sox pandemonium, this represents an asteroid strike and the dust has barely begun to clear.
From the offices on Yawkey Way, the club lost its president and CEO, its general manager, manager and TV broadcaster in less than a month.
On the field, the last-place Red Sox actually have played better — they are 12-11 this month with improved pitching and hitting — but here, too, they are reeling from change that is just a taste of what’s to come this offseason. With a sense that each game is now an audition for the new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, the players are executing better but dealing with departures as well — their closer is done for the season and their left fielder was the victim of a coup d’etat.
The ballclub spent its off day yesterday relaxing near Times Square, no doubt refreshing its Twitter feed frequently just to keep ahead of the latest surge of change-agents careening around the next corner.
Clear-headed analysis of the impact is not so easy while in a state of shock. Instead, let’s pause, take a deep breath and rewind to see exactly what just hit the Red Sox.
• Aug. 1: An open secret within the front office for months spilled out into the open this early Saturday afternoon with president and CEO Larry Lucchino leaving his post. The man, whom principal owner John Henry described as his best-ever hire and the man who ran the business side of the Red Sox as well as the baseball operations department, depending on who the GM was, was being asked to leave. Lucchino, long used to controlling the team’s message, was caught by surprise by the timing of the news flash and tried to suppress it before reluctantly confirming it. Sam Kennedy took over, but without baseball operations duties. That led to deserved speculation that the Red Sox were going to restructure a department that engineered two going on three last-place finishes in the last four years.
• Aug. 4: It didn’t take long for the baseball operations revamp rumors to flare up. Tigers owner Mike Ilitch announced he let his president, Dombrowski, out of the remaining portion of his contract. The Red Sox were as surprised as anyone about that. Henry wasted little time giving Dombrowski a call to gauge his interest in working here.
• Aug. 7: Closer Koji Uehara took a line drive off his right wrist on the final out of his save in Detroit, where the Comerica Park X-ray machine failed to find the fracture. But Uehara was done for the season.
• Aug. 11: Manager John Farrell’s arrival for the first game in Miami was delayed because he was recovering from what was initially believed to be a hernia operation. Farrell reported to duty at Marlins Park, but was too tired to stay for the game. He did manage the next game, his last this season.
• Aug. 14: In the first game of the homestand, Farrell opened his daily press conference by announcing he had Stage 1 lymphoma and would leave the team for the rest of the season in order to begin chemotherapy and address the aggressive but curable disease. Bench coach Torey Lovullo assumed the interim manager position. A bittersweet note: Terry Francona, Farrell’s close friend and co-symbol (along with Theo Epstein) of the last great front-office tsunami (circa, September 2011), was in town managing the Indians and visited Farrell on day one of chemo treatment.
• Aug. 18: In the late innings of a win over the Indians, the team sends out a press release with the biggest transaction yet: general manager Ben Cherington was out and Dombrowski was in as president of baseball operations.
• Aug. 19: Henry, Werner and Kennedy, with Lucchino in the audience, introduce Dombrowski at Fenway Park. Later that afternoon, Cherington bade farewell in a composed yet wistful press conference in a tiny function room at the ballpark.
• Aug. 25: A week did not go by before a double-barreled dose of change rolled through. It was NESN’s turn to be surprised by a leak. Longtime TV announcer Don Orsillo would not be back (poor ratings!), to be replaced by radio voice Dave O’Brien. Orsillo’s partner, Jerry Remy, was almost as devastated as Orsillo, who somehow will stay on for the rest of the season. Before that night’s game, Hanley Ramirez revealed he has been asked to begin training for a move to first base, since his move to left field was judged a failure, even by Ramirez.
Whew, that’s it for now.
Stay tuned to your local seismograph for future updates.