Lovullo, a former utility infielder who played for seven different major league teams between 1988 and 1999, has broken into the Red Sox' organization as manager of the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. He's been all over the professional baseball map, playing everywhere from New York to L.A. to Tokyo, and now he's finally getting a crack at the Red Sox.
Lovullo comes to the Sox by way of the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, where he managed for one season before jumping ship to come to Pawtucket. Lovullo's Clippers won just 57 games and finished last in the International League West last season, but he was able to nurture an inexperienced team that was dealing with a lot of adversity — in more ways than one.
"It was a brand new venue, but we had tremendous fan support from the very start," Lovullo said. "The Indians' organization moved that team from Buffalo, New York, to Columbus before the season, and the general manager there did an outstanding job designing that field and preparing that field, from step one to the final step. It was done extremely well. … When I think about Columbus, I think back about a lot of good times I had developing a lot of great young players."
Still, he thought it was time for a change in his career path. And he was lucky to find a job with the Red Sox that struck his fancy.
"After a year in Columbus, I felt like it was time for me to branch out a little bit, spread my wings," Lovullo said. "I wanted to associate myself with other organizations. I had a two-week window to reach out to organizations and contact people with other teams, and believe it or not, the Red Sox were my first choice. They were the first organization that I called. At the time, there were really no openings there for me, but a short time after that phone call, an opening turned up in Pawtucket to manage."
Brad Mills — the former bench coach in Boston's dugout who worked alongside Terry Francona — left at the end of 2009 season to take a managing gig in Houston, officially signing with the Astros on Oct. 27. The Sox did some internal shuffling to make things work in Mills' absence, moving DeMarlo Hale from third base coach to bench coach and shuffling Tim Bogar from first base to third. Ron Johnson, who managed the PawSox to a 61-82 finish last season, moved to Boston to take over first base.
And that's when the opening appeared in Pawtucket, with Lovullo agreeing on Nov. 30 to take over the PawSox managerial duties for next season.
Lovullo's been with a lot of storied organizations in the past. He's been all over the map and all over the globe. But it doesn't get much better than working with the Red Sox.
"As far as the Red Sox' organization goes, you're talking about a team with a lot of tradition and a lot of history," he said. "Every year, they have a chance to win the World Series. It's very real. … And this team really has a tremendous following. There are thousands of fans right now watching this team's workouts here in spring training. It's really impressive to see these people support their baseball team."
Now that he's with the team in Fort Myers, Fla., Lovullo can start to get a look at the talent he'll have to work with this season. Nothing's set in stone yet, roster-wise — and it won't be for at least a couple weeks — but he can start to lay the groundwork for this season while he gets acquainted with the organization.
And perhaps more importantly, he can start to develop a relationship with his big-league manager, Francona.
"Tito is as good a communicator as I've ever seen," Lovullo said. "He's open to conversations, and he's excited to talk about young players in the minor leagues. Because of that, the conversations we have are easy. They've started now, in spring training — we're having ongoing conversations throughout. I'm honored to give him my perspectives and my opinions on the guys we have here."
At the moment, Lovullo remains humble. He's still in Triple-A, and he's still got work to do before he reaches the pinnacle of his career as a manager.
But he's had ambitions to reach the major leagues as a manager in the past, and he's come close to achieving that goal. He was rumored to be in the running to manage the Dodgers in 2006 before Grady Little landed that job, and he was in the running for a managing gig in Pittsburgh a year later. It hasn't worked out for him yet, so for the time being, Lovullo remains in the Triple-A ranks.
"I think everyone has hopes and dreams," he said, "and I do aspire to one day get that opportunity to manage a big-league team. But they don't hand those jobs out on silver platters. You have to pay your dues to get there — it takes time to learn and time to develop. But if that opportunity ever does present itself, I'll be honored to take it on."
