Red Sox hire ex-Angels GM Jerry Dipoto as consultant

MIAMI -- The Boston Red Sox have hired former Los Angeles Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto as a consultant to help in player evaluation and offseason planning, the team confirmed Wednesday. The role is not a permanent position.

Dipoto, who resigned as Angels GM on July 1 after 3 years in Anaheim, previously worked for the Red Sox pro scouting department in 2003 and '04 before leaving the club to become director of scouting for the Colorado Rockies.

Dipoto, 47, has been assigned to evaluate the players in the Red Sox system and also assist general manager Ben Cherington in offseason planning. Teams place a high degree of importance on the evaluation of their own talent, as it is critical in determining which prospects can be traded and which should be kept.

The hiring of Dipoto as a consultant would seem to reinforce the stated intention of the Red Sox to bring back Cherington for another season, even though the club is headed to its third last-place finish in the past four years.