Harrington: Bringing Back the Past

John Harrington, chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox and chairman of baseball’s realignment committee, said Friday that a plan to radically revamp the major leagues is an attempt to return the sport to its past.

“We’re trying to generate very active rivalries,” he said. “The goal is to return to the old days of the eight-team leagues, where our fans knew the rosters of the other teams.”

Harrington said the benefit of the new alignment, in which teams would be distributed by time zone, is to decrease travel for players and allow more fans to view broadcasts of road games at convenient hours.

“For the traditionalist, this will be hard to stomach,” Harrington said. “But it’s not irrevocable. If we implement this and it doesn’t fly, it’s possible to adjust this.”

The Red Sox, Baltimore, Montreal, Philadelphia, Toronto and New York Mets and Yankees would be in the AL East. Florida, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit and expansion Tampa Bay would be in the AL Central.

The NL Central would include Texas, Houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Chicago Cubs and White Sox. The NL West would include the Dodgers, Angels, Oakland, San Francisco, Colorado, San Diego, Seattle and expansion Arizona.

“If you were starting up baseball today, what you would do?” Harrington said. “This is what you would do.”

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The A’s claimed infielder Tilson Brito off waivers from the Blue Jays and designated right-handed pitcher Bobby Chouinard for assignment.