This was my stance but after hearing more about what happened via several different reports, it's clear to me that he was indeed called in by his doctors unexpectedly. I was talking to my FIL a couple weeks back, who also has a pacemaker....apparently those things are constantly reporting stats which are somehow or another linked to a monitoring service. My FIL had, in fact, been called in to get checked out due to some things his pacemaker saw going on with his heart. Same thing could have happened with TLR and would explain the abrupt exit just prior to that evening's game.
Regardless, this is the most tone deaf, incompetent franchise in professional sports. The Sox were the laughingstock of the league. DIE HARD fans, like we find on this board, were outraged and pretty much quit watching games, much less attending them. The casual fanbase was MIA. Social media was littered with fan outrage and ridicule. I absolutely REFUSE to believe that none of this made it back to JR.
So they wipe the slate clean, fans' hopes start to slowly return a bit, and then they let us know the old drunk is going to be around the club again?!?!?!?! I mean, really, who tf does that? I had no idea it was possible to misread a situation this poorly. I refuse to believe Grifol had any say whatsoever in this decision....as a leader, it's important for the players, fans, media, and organization to understand that the past is behind us and he's bringing about changes. This completely flies in the face of what a good leader would want to happen.