Why Red Sox should name Raquel Ferreira new GM

While speculation surrounding whom the Boston Red Sox will hire as their next general manager has run a wide spectrum of candidates, it is possible the team's best option has been a part of its front office all along. Well, calling Raquel Ferreira simply "a part of the front office" is probably underselling her role with the club. 

Team president and CEO Sam Kennedy was recently on the "Fenway Rundown" podcast, speaking with MassLive.com's Sean McAdam, and he addressed the club's GM search. The key takeaway was that the team would not require a candidate to have prior experience. McAdam named some of the candidates, both established and not, who have been linked to the club already but left Ferreira's name out. 

He shouldn't have. Ferreira is the definition of working your way up the ladder and has been integral to the team the past 20-plus years. 

After joining the organization in 1999, Ferreira's first big promotion came in 2003 when Theo Epstein named her the director of minor league administration. She was vital in developing the organization's rookie development programs and has played a significant role in developing relationships with many of the team's younger players, including now Padres SS Xander Bogaerts and star 3B Rafael Devers.

By the end of the 2014 season, Boston named her vice president of baseball administration. Five years later, in 2019, she was promoted again to executive VP/assistant GM. She's worked under Epstein, Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski and Chaim Bloom — a pretty solid collection of mentors. 

Ferreira's name has come up previously in connection to other GM openings. The Mets wanted to interview her in 2021, but she's never been given the full reigns to run the show. Boston would be wise to give her the chance now. She's more than experienced, incredibly well-respected across the baseball industry and knows the immensely high expectations that come from the Red Sox fan base. 

Should Boston give her the job, she would become the second female general manager in MLB history, after Kim Ng of the Marlins (who should be extended by Miami soon but who has also been linked to Boston's opening).