Red Sox hire former Braves GM Frank Wren

BOSTON (AP) The Red Sox hired former Atlanta Braves general manager Frank Wren as senior vice president of baseball operations, a day after Mike Hazen was promoted to general manager.

Boston's move, announced Friday, was the latest change made by Dave Dombrowski, who was hired in August as president of baseball operations.

Dombrowski mainly sees Wren working on player evaluations in the majors.

''His background and what he brings to the organization is great, we're very fortunate to have him,'' Dombrowski said. ''I've talked with Frank, his main responsibility is talent evaluation. That's why he came on board. At the major league level, when we talk about making trades or talk about signing free-agent players, we really want him actively involved in that.''

Wren said his relationship with Dombrowski, as well as Boston's young talent, made the decision easy.

''Well, I think for me, there's very few places that I would really want to go,'' Wren said. ''I've been in some really good spots, and the last 15 years in Atlanta has been very good for me and for my family.

''When this opportunity came with Dave, it was pretty much something that I was really excited about, and thinking this was an ideal situation.''

Former general manager Ben Cherington, who oversaw the team's 2013 World Series championship, decided not to return when Dombrowski was hired.

Boston is on track for its second straight last-place finish in the AL East.

The 57-year-old Wren was fired by the Braves in September 2014.

''It's one of those things where we had a very successful run there for a while,'' he said. ''We won a lot of ballgames. From 2010 through 2014, we won more ballgames than any team in baseball. The other team that was close to us had twice the payroll. We did some good things, but we also had some signings that were not so good.''