Red Sox fans welcome news of Andre Bailey's potential appointment as pitching coach - "Wow that's a massive hire"

The Boston Red Sox are on the verge of acquiring former bullpen ace Andrew Bailey as their new pitching coach. The franchise has been on the lookout for the role since Dave Bush was fired from that position after the end of the 2023 season.

Andrew Bailey joined the Boston Red Sox and stayed there for two seasons. Starting off his career with the Oakland Athletics he was voted the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year. Injuries derailed his playing career but he started off his coaching tenure in 2019 with the LA Angels, then serving four years as the pitching coach of the San Francisco Giants.

The move reportedly comes a few weeks after the Boston Red Sox appointed Craig Breslow as their new head of baseball operations. Breslow was also part of the team as a reliever during his playing days and was a teammate of Bailey's for five straight seasons from 2009 to 2013 first three as part of the Athletics.

Andrew Bailey is also the director of development of the Strike 3 Foundation, the charity Breslow created to support research on pediatric cancer. Thus close ties remain between both executives.

Red Sox fans were elated after the reports came in as they took to X, formerly Twitter, to voice their appreciation:

"Wow that’s a massive hire. W," a fan tweeted.

Here are a few other reactions:

Andrew Bailey had also interviewed for Red Sox rivals' position

After the New York Yankees let go of Aaron Boone's long-term deputy Carlos Mendoza to the New York Mets, they have been on the lookout for a new bench coach themselves. Reports claimed that Bailey had also interviewed for that vacant position. Despite those claims, Bailey seems to be heading further north up to Boston.

He will have a lot to do as the Red Sox have a lackluster pitching staff that averaged 4.52 last season, which was 21st in the league.