It shows that he's always thinking outside of the box and would be a useful baseball mind to have, and second what kingkat said about being a good president. AA would still be basically making the final decisions.
Rodriguez was still a very good prospect with his stock rising during the season while Norris' was arguably falling. It was a very good move for the Red Sox, but like I said there's no point in just cherrypicking transactions to make a point. I think a guy who's been GM in one of baseball's biggest markets (probably has one of the best scouting departments, analytic groups) has a ton of knowledge he could bring to another ball club, whether that's as assistant General Manager or something else he'd be a useful piece.