Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Legend Willing To Leave Organization To Manage Elsewhere If Called Upon

Boston might have to say goodbye to a legend in the coming years

Scott Neville

Red Sox Legend Willing To Leave Organization To Manage Elsewhere If Called Upon
Red Sox Legend Willing To Leave Organization To Manage Elsewhere If Called Upon /
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The Boston Red Sox have done a great job of keeping former World Champions around to preserve the desired culture across all levels of the organization.

Boston's new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is a former World Series-winning reliever. Manager Alex Cora was a key cog for the 2007 World Series run. Then, there are several former players in advisory and coaching roles to further promote the City of Champions attitude needed to be a perennial contender.

One of the most involved former players is Jason Varitek. The former catcher and captain currently serves as the game-planning coordinator for Cora's staff. Varitek has been with the Red Sox organization in some form -- player, executive, coach -- since 1997.

While Varitek has found what he's been looking for in Boston for almost three decades, he might need to head elsewhere to achieve his next big goal -- managing.

“I understand that’s the future of where this goes, being able to have right fits and right opportunities to lead and manage a team," Varitek told MassLive's Chris Cotillo at the Pedro Martinez Foundation Gala on Friday. "Currently, it’s not necessarily about that. It’s about doing the best job that I can to provide with our pitchers and catchers and help them be the best that they can be. If those opportunities fit right, then you have to look and really think hard about it.”

Varitek took a phone call from San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi regarding the club's manager vacancy this offseason following the firing of Gabe Kapler. The call was more of an inquiry, if anything, and did not lead to Varitek formally interviewing for the position. Any chance of that happening dissolved when Bob Melvin became available.

Still, Varitek is headed down that path, and will be blocked as long as Cora remains in his current role. There is a chance Varitek could be Cora's successor when the latter decides to move into a front-office role -- something he's expressed interest in eventually transitioning into. 

If not, Boston will have to say goodbye to the captain, and share him with another franchise.

More MLB: 19 Best Free Agent Fits For Red Sox As They Attempt To Bolster Roster For 2024

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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