Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Theo, don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Theo and the "the one that got away"
November 25th, 2002, the Boston Red Sox raised eyebrows by hiring, then 28 year old Theo Epstein as their General Manager. The Yale graduate was hired to work under CEO Larry Luchinno, but after interim GM Mike Port's tenure ended, the youthful, new age thinker Epstein was given his time to shine.

Under Epstein's guidance, famous acquisitons such as "Big Papi" David Ortiz and Curt Schilling were instrumental in the team ending their 86 year title drought, and ending the "curse of the bambino". With his eye for shrewd, low-risk high-reward deals, Epstein quickly rose to one of the games elite GM's, and in 2005, on Halloween Epstein resigned from his post. Walking out in a gorilla suit, in some sort of "Fever Pitch" meets "King Kong" crossover, Epstein said he "decided he could no longer put his heart and soul into it". A resignation speech that would be a legitimate candidate for "flimsy excuse of the year", runner up to "the dog ate my homework".

Less than three months after the acrimonious split, Epstein returned to Fenway Park, with a new title of "Executive Vice President and General Manager". The terms of the new contract were never disclosed, so whether money was a signifcant reason for his return remains a great mystery.

The past few years, perhaps since the 2007 World Series victory, Epstein's record in the free agency market has progressively worsened, from 36 million dollar mistakes like Julio Lugo being previous horrendous acquisitions, the 220 million committed to John Lackey and Carl Crawford makes Lugo's deal look like cents and nickels.

For all Epstein's failings when it comes to big money free agents, his shrewd deals, and eye for bargains in the trade market is what has always seperated him from average or even above average general managers. Whether it be shipping out the "clubhouse cancer" Manny Ramirez, letting him go to L.A and try not to get pregnant, or sending a bucket load of prospects to San Diego. Them deals saw Jason Bay and Adrian Gonzalez arrive and thrive at the "fens".

For all his faults, and everytime Carl Crawford swing at strike 3 in the dirt, we remember their has been a few, Theo Epstein has certainly cemented himself as one of the game's best, rivalled only in my opinion by Andrew Friedman in Tampa. Epstein was voted #3 in SI's top "10GM's/Executives of the decade"(in all sports)

Now if I was the 2011 Red Sox, this is where i would quit and throw in the towel  (80%). Epstein looks set to go to Chicago and be the GM for the Cubs, who themselves are in the midst of a 103 year drought. A barren spellto top all others. For the Red Sox, after the dismissal of Terry Francona, perhaps the worst decision in sports since LeBron James Tv extravaganza during last years NBA free agency.

For Epstein, the opportunity to orchestrate a championship calibre team in Chicago is a golden one.A world series win their would all but confirm him as a hall of fame GM. Breaking the games' two biggest championship droughts would thrust him into the pantheon of all time great sporting execuvtives. With a sizable budget and big, overrpaid players in contract years, Epstein will have a lot of flexibility with his budget, and could ruffle some feathers early. A certain number 5 perhaps?

For Boston however, a very good, perhaps great team is already assembled, but the annual decimation from the DL, and the odd disastrous signing is what shot the team in the foot again. Perhaps it's time to freshen things up again? A new manager/GM team. Maybe owneship has gone mad? For Theo Epstein, and for the Red Sox, this is the perfect time for a harmonious split.