Former Boston Red Sox bench coach Ron Roenicke was named as the team's new interim manager during a press conference held Tuesday in Fort Myers, Florida.
"I'm really looking forward to this year and the relationships we build and hopefully have a winning season," Roenicke told news media at the conference.
The news came after a long offseason in which the Red Sox agreed to part ways with former manager Alex Cora in the aftermath of a cheating scandal and the trading away of star players Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Major League Baseball has yet to release the results of an investigation into allegations that Cora was involved improperly used video to steal signs while working with the Red Sox and Houston Astros.
Roenicke declined to speak about those allegations at the press conference.
"I can't comment on anything that's still going on," he said. "But [we're] trying to get the team really to focus on what we need to do. And if you have conversations with any of these guys, they want to win. And they are not happy with what happened last year. I know we had streaks where we were pretty good, but the focus is going to be on moving forward and trying to have that great season that we know we're capable of."
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom expressed confidence that Roenicke will be able to stay on and won't be impacted by the investigation from the league.
"We have no reason to think that, you know, there is anything that would cause an adverse result for (Roenicke) in this investigation," he said. "But of course, the investigation is not complete. It's not fair for us to determine that, obviously we can't determine what comes out of the investigation. And so, we're going to respect the ongoing investigation and we'll address permanency once its complete."
Bloom made clear the organization feels strongly about the decision to hire Roenicke in the role.
The announcement came as the team is in Florida for Spring Training.
