Longtime baseball executive and former Red Sox consultant Bill Lajoie passed away on Tuesday at age 76. He was a prime mover of the Epstein-free trade that sent Hanley Ramirez to the Marlins for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.
After Theo's "Gorilla Suit" departure on Halloween of 2005, Lajoie helped run baseball operations on Yawkey Way and—along with Larry Lucchino—pushed for the trade that (arguably) led to the 2007 World Championship. Lajoie was most famous for building the 1984 World Championship Tigers club.