The 2016 season has begun for the Red Sox. Yes, there are still 37 games remaining in the 2015 season, but the hiring of Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations was all about rebuilding this team for the future.

The Red Sox, on the cusp of finishing last for the third time in four seasons, will have a new leader calling the baseball shots at 4 Yawkey Way.

This won’t be an easy fix. Dombrowski knows Boston needs one, if not two, top-of-the-rotation starters. It needs a completely overhauled bullpen. It needs to figure out which of the young prospects will be part of the solution moving forward.

Those are decisions that will be made around the hot stove this coming fall and winter. In the meantime, the 2015 Red Sox have already responded to the new boss. There’s been a renewed sense of urgency around the ballpark. Players and coaches know Dombrowski is watching their every move, figuring out who will be part of the solution going forward.

Jackie Bradley, Jr. makes a dramatic catch – and the NESN cameras cut to a shot of Dombrowski reacting. Travis Shaw hits .500 at home and we start to think about him at first base. Blake Swihart has a four-hit night and we start to wonder what the team will do at the catching position when Christian Vazquez returns.

While Dombrowski will be charged with assembling a roster than can contend for a division title, he’ll also face the task of putting together the right staff in the dugout and the front office.

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Manager John Farrell, who will miss the remainder of the season as he undergoes treatment for stage 1 lymphoma, will have his job reviewed. So will his coaches. The men and women who worked under now-former general manager Ben Cherington will also be evaluated.

Professional baseball can be a ruthless business. Players, coaches and baseball executives know they are evaluated every time a team takes the field. It’s part of the deal, the price they pay for the privilege of making a living inside the lines and inside the clubhouse.

It still doesn’t make the uncertainty of a housecleaning any easier.

Make no mistake, there are people at Fenway wondering about their future. Fans only care about future pennant races.

By making the move now, team ownership has given Dombrowski a jump-start on the hard work awaiting him this offseason.

The unexpected byproduct of the move is that this team is more fun to watch now. The Sox hit the road after a 6-4 homestand, looking like a team that isn’t just playing out the string. Like all of us, this team is thinking about the future. A future that has already begun at Fenway.

After the last couple of seasons, it couldn’t come at a better time.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.


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