All hail the new chief, General Manager Mike Hazen

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Eric D. Schabell
Contributing Writer

On Thursday the Boston Red Sox president of operations Dave Dombrowski promoted Mike Hazen to full GM of the Boston Red Sox.

We have a successor to Ben Cherington and one that was an integral part of the Red Sox for the last 10 years.

"Over his 10 years with the Red Sox, Mike has proven to be an invaluable member of the baseball operations department," 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 is 39 years old, grew up in Abington, MA. and is a passionate Red Sox fan. He most recently served as assistant GM and had earlier roles of vice president of player development and amateur scouting. He was one of the active members of a front office that constructed the current Red Sox farm system, voted #1 by Keith Law of ESPN.

It is good to see that Dombrowski recognized that something good exists in the Red Sox philosophy and is not just cleaning house throughout the organization. Many fans are calling for sweeping changes to the organization after two last place finishes in as many years.

This would be a rather radical move to take a front office that has put together such a good structured base in the farm system and sweep out the brain trust completely. A strong move here by Dombrowski who will retain control and have final say, but at least has the smartest guy who knows the talent in the system he might be needing to trade this offseason.

There is a lot of work to be done, but with key pieces like Hazen able to advise and have a good understanding of the entire Red Sox player system, it could be the most valuable move Dombrowski makes to get the Red Sox on the board in 2016.

The question is, will Hazen offer any push back should Dombrowski want to make moves that clean out the farm system in the offseason, moving the likes of Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Rusney Castillo, or more?

Or will he just be there to cater to Dombrowski as that same Red Sox fan puts it?

Post a comment or via twitter @erics_redsox with your thoughts.

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