Veteran Lajoie is still a player

November 13, 2005
Bill Lajoie doesn't have to be reminded how baseball has changed since he was general manager of the Detroit Tigers. He can remember 25 years ago when the Kansas City Royals named John Schuerholz the game's youngest GM at age 40. Now he's seeing GMs in their late 20s and early 30s.
Now Lajoie, 71, will be very much involved in the selection of the Red Sox' new GM. The former special assistant to Theo Epstein had resigned, but was coaxed back into the fold by CEO Larry Lucchino last Tuesday. Because he claimed his job at such a late date, said Lajoie, he was unable to take part in the general managers' meetings.
Lajoie flew to Boston from his Florida home Thursday to take part in Jim Beattie's interview Friday, and he plans to stay in Boston until Thanksgiving to help interview other candidates.
Asked whether he was interested in the job himself, the man who brought a world championship to Detroit as GM in 1984, said, ''No. It's too fast-paced these days."
Lajoie said he resigned from the Sox probably just minutes before Epstein announced he was not returning.
''I spoke to Theo that day," said Lajoie, ''and I said to him, 'I'm resigning.' And he said, 'Well, I've just resigned myself.' I had talked to Theo a few days earlier and he told me things weren't progressing. I guess I knew he wasn't going to be there and I felt I should resign.
''But even in the days after I resigned, Larry was asking my advice on a lot of things. This went on for about five days and he finally asked me, 'Will you stay on?' and I said, 'Sure.' "
Lajoie, who originally offered his resignation out of loyalty to Epstein, said he never told Epstein he had changed his mind. Lajoie said reports that he and Epstein had grown apart were false, but he did acknowledge that his services weren't required as much this past season, save for the days leading up to the trading deadline.
Lajoie said Epstein would have remedied that situation.
While Lajoie plans on scouting spring training, his long-term future with the Sox is uncertain.
''I'll do this until we get a GM in place and at that point if the GM wants to bring in his own guy, I can walk away," Lajoie said. ''I don't want to saddle anyone with me if they don't feel I can be of assistance to them. I like working for the Red Sox and will continue to do so if they feel I can continue to help with evaluations in the future."
As for in-house candidates, Lajoie has worked closely with many of the young administrators -- from Peter Woodfork to Jed Hoyer to Ben Cherrington -- and he said, ''I would think they're very much in the mix."

Source: http://www.boston.com/