Red Sox Nation: Theo Deserves Your Praise, Not Your Scorn!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Friday night in Chicago, two of baseball’s most storied franchises who play in two of baseball’s most historic and beloved ballparks open up a 3-game weekend series. But the focus this weekend won’t necessarily be on the field. Instead, it will be on the front office - particularly that of the Chicago Cubs and their new president Theo Epstein.
Yes, it wasn’t too long ago that the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs shared similar histories. Both franchises play in historic, quaint ballparks. Both have passionate fan bases. And, despite having many great players wear their respective uniforms over the years, both franchises seemed cursed suffering championship droughts that lasted for decades.
But 2004 and 2007 changed things for one of the two franchises. The Red Sox, under new GM Theo Epstein, won a pair of world championships exorcising 86 years of demons and unpleasant memories like Bucky Dent and Bill Buckner.
For the Cubs, the championship drought continues. In fact, more than a century has passed since the Cubbies won their last World Series back in 1908.
Enter Theo Epstein.
In 2003, Epstein joined the Red Sox front office with hopes of building a franchise that could not only compete for, but also win world championships. Mission accomplished.
Now he has been handed the same assignment in Chicago where the Cubs are a lot further away from winning baseball’s holy grail than Boston was 9 years ago.
Why Epstein left Boston isn’t necessarily a mystery. There had been a fair amount of discord between the former Sox’ GM and team president Larry Lucchino who seemed to bristle at the accolades the young Ivy Leaguer received for Boston’s success.
That, ultimately, led to Epstein’s departure, but there were some other factors as well.
First off, there was the challenge of doing for the Cubs and their fans what he did for Red Sox Nation – help deliver a highly sought after and extremely elusive championship. But that wasn’t the only reason he left the Red Sox.
Epstein made it clear when he took over in Boston that he wanted to make the franchise a “drafting and developmental machine.” He was all about identifying young talent, cultivating it and making it the backbone or nucleus of the franchise.
This week, Theo talked to both sports radio stations in Boston and the Boston Globe and he admitted to both of them that he and the franchise seemed to get away from that mentality in his final few seasons in Boston. He talked about the fact that “bigger business” got in the way of their idea of staying the course and led them down the road of free agency where they ultimately had some big swings and misses.
Which leads us to this weekend’s series where the spotlight is squarely on Theo. While the honeymoon is just beginning in Chicago, Epstein’s legacy is debated quite frequently here in New England and I would argue, wrongfully so.
As this 2012 edition of the Red Sox continues to struggle with mediocrity, many in Red Sox Nation are pointing the finger of blame at Theo for the mess the team is in.
After all, it was Epstein who was in charge when the team signed Carl Crawford to a $142 million contract. He also inked John Lackey to an $82.5 million dollar deal. He was behind the team’s acquisition of Diasuke Matsuzaka and the $52 million posting fee it took to get him from Japan and the additional $52 million that was spent to sign him. Let’s also not forget that he traded for the now struggling Adrian Gonzalez whom he inked to a $154 million dollar deal. And we won’t even mention the horrendous contracts given to the likes of Bobby Jenks, JD Drew, Julio Lugo and Edgar Renteria.
That certainly appears to be enough ammo to take any general manager down. When you add up all of the money invested in those players and compare it to the returns received from each individual, it’s astonishingly bad.
But to focus simply on that would be ignoring the bigger picture.
In Epstein’s 9 seasons with the Red Sox, the team averaged 94 wins. Boston made the playoffs 6 times. And he delivered on his promise to draft and develop talent with players like Dustin Pedroia, Will Middlebrooks, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester just a few of his success stories.
Most importantly, Epstein accepted the Red Sox GM’s post in 2003 knowing that he had one responsibility: to deliver a world championship to a long-suffering fan base. Epstein not only did that, he did it twice!
His detractors will have you believe that it was his predecessor Dan Duquette who laid the foundation for Boston’s first championship of the decade in 2004. There was Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe. They were all Duquette’s guys.
But that team would not have been able to compete for or win a world championship without the many key additions of Theo Epstein. Theo acquired Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller and Dave Roberts. Let’s also not forget that he made a very bold (and unpopular) move prior to the trading deadline shipping Nomar Garciaparra out of town for fellow shortstop Orlando Cabrera, a move which turned out to be a great one! And do I even have to remind you that it was Theo who picked up David Ortiz off of the scrapheap and brought him to Boston? Without Big Papi, there is no 2004 ALCS comeback against the Yankees.
Yes, Epstein did not fare well in free agency while in Boston. He wasted a lot of John Henry’s money on some bad players. But such is the nature of the business that he is in. When you’re a general manager in any professional sport, you will have many “hits,” just as you will invariably have many “misses.”
And the bottom line is that the Red Sox were as interesting and competitive a franchise as there was in all of Major League Baseball from 2003-2011. AND, they won two world championships.
The defense rests, your honor!
Comments:
Bobby Townsend
11:24am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Theo did some great things in his first few years and did everything he set out to do during his first press conference but the problem was he got away from that and now the Sox are suffering for it.
Now they are tied down with so many bad contracts that they are in a position where they are pretty maxed out.
The winter of 2010-11 put an exclaimation point on that. This Gonzalez trade (and signing) could be the worst ever with the Crawford signing a close second.
Extending Beckett doesn't help either. You talk about the great things he did and granted, he is really sharp when it comes to drafting players but trading (outside of the Nomar trade) and signing free agents are certainly not amongst his strong suits.
He has had way too many swings and misses and the organization is going to suffer for it in the next few years.
Bobby Townsend
11:29am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
If he doesn't make the Gonzalez trade (and signing) in 2011, Anthony Rizzo (who is in the Cubs org since Theo made a trade a few months ago and got him back) may be playing first for the Sox, Youk would be an afterthought, Reddick would be in the outfield instead of putting up good numbers in Oakland.
Speaking of Rizzo, last time I checked, he can win the triple crown in the PCL. He is blocked right now by Bryan Lehair who is doing well with the Cubs. Ryan Kalish is still in the Sox org. and right now appears to be on the mend after losing considerable time.
Bobby Townsend
11:35am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
The worst thing that happened to Theo was being given an open checkbook to spend anyway he saw fit. Therefore, way too many swings and misses. Now they have 80M tied up on players on the DL and may go higher when Beckett go on (and you know he will at some point)
The Victor Martinez trade was horrible. The Indians got two pitchers who are big contributors to their club.
So yes, Theo is one of the best when it comes to drafting but then he will say "it gives us depth in our farm system so we can make trade for more established players" that way of thinking certainly has not worked out but these drafted players should have given a better opportunity of making the Red Sox, not being used as trade bait.
Bobby Townsend
11:42am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
And what happened with Kevin Millwood last year. After spending considerable time in Pawtucket, Millwood, who was not an expensive signing last year coming off a 16 loss season with Baltimore, was released in early August where he could have helped a playoff drive down the stretch.
Instead, we got too good a look at Tim Wakefield, who the Sox kept sending him out there every 5 days so he can break the teams WINS record, Kyle Wieland (SP) and Beckett, who became out of shape then missed some starts after tripping over the mound in Toronto and Lackey, who was never in shape in the first place. Don't know if Millwood would have enough to get them over the hump but it was worth a shot.
E.J. Dunn
5:28pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Theo should thank Dan Douquette every day for the talent Dan left him. And post gorilla suit, Theo saddled the Sox with a quarter-billion dollars of dead wood. He was lucky to leave town the way he did.