It’s official: Ron Roenicke is the 48th manager of the Boston Red Sox.
Reports surfaced earlier Wednesday the team removed the interim tag from Roneicke’s position. And chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom confirmed as much Wednesday during a conference call.
“With that investigation complete, that interim tag is now removed and Ron is now our manager,” Bloom said.
Roenicke’s contract runs through the 2020 season. Whether the season is played remains to be seen, but Bloom said they are open to having Roenicke beyond this year. He also noted they have had no real discussions as of yet because they were waiting for Major League Baseball to release its findings from the 2018 sign-stealing investigation.
“The fact that (Ron’s) contract runs through 2020 certainly doesn’t mean that he can’t or won’t manage us beyond that,” Bloom said. “We thought that we were best served, given the uniqueness of the situation, maintaining the length of his existing contract.”
Roenicke was hired prior to the 2018 season and was the team’s bench coach. He was named interim manager Feb. 11.