(The following is being syndicated from The Captain’s Blog).
Theo Epstein is off to fight his next curse. According to WEEI, the Red Sox boy wonder has decided that the grass is greener at Wrigley Field than Fenway Park and joined Terry Francona as the latest to flee hostility in Red Sox Nation.
Can the Red Sox survive without their Boy Wonder?
The collapse of the Red Sox’ baseball hierarchy caps off a season in which the team went from being considered the best in franchise history to the worst that money could buy. With revelations about the dysfunctional atmosphere in the Boston clubhouse continuing to emerge, Epstein may be getting out at just the right time. What’s more, several players may soon be following him out the door, creating a challenging offseason for the Red Sox as the team tries to pick up the pieces from its broken season.
Before the season started, it seemed like Brian Cashman would be the general manager announcing his departure in October. At that time, Epstein was busy filling his team’s wish list with high priced free agents and acquisitions, while Cashman was forced to scour the scrapheap to fill the roles abandoned by Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee. Six months later, however, and with another division title under his belt, Cashman is close to resigning an extension to remain with the Yankees, while Epstein is headed to Chicago. Apparently, spending money isn’t so easy after all?
Although Epstein’s departure makes it appear as if the general manager is washing his hands of the mess left behind in Boston, his transfer to Chicago shouldn’t come with complete absolution, at least not unless he takes John Lackey and Carl Crawford with him. Despite gaining a reputation for being a genius, Epstein’s tenure in Boston has not been without its questionable moves. From the revolving door at shortstop to the failed Daisuke Matsuzaka experiment to ill-conceived midseason acquisitions like Eric Gagne, the Red Sox’ GM has had moments when he didn’t look so smart.
Theo’s Busts: Regrettable Red Sox Free Agents, 2003-2011
| Player | Offseason | Contract Terms |
| Bobby Jenks | 2010 | 2-years/$12mn |
| Carl Crawford | 2010 | 7-years/$142mn |
| Marco Scutaro | 2009 | 2-years/$12.5mn |
| John Lackey | 2009 | 5-years/$82.5mn |
| Mike Cameron | 2009 | 2-years/$15.5mn |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | 2006 | 6-years/$103.1mn |
| Edgar Renteria | 2004 | 4-years/$36mn |
| Matt Clement | 2004 | 3-years/$25.8mn |
Source: Cotts contracts
There’s no denying Theo Epstein’s success with the Red Sox, but it also can’t be divorced from the support system provided by the organization. That could be a lesson learned by Epstein in Chicago, once he realizes he no longer has access to the same resources . Similarly, the Red Sox will now be forced to find a new general manager who can not only handle all of the complexities of Boston, but the varied personalities in the organization itself. Considering the relative stability enjoyed by the Yankees, the Red Sox really can’t afford a rough transition. Although this parting between Epstein and the Red Sox may not immediately elicit sweet sorrow from either side, the potential for future regret remains.
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13 Responses to And Now the Deluge: Theo’s Departure Creates Uncertainty for GM, Sox
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TIQ IQ
Not sure why Scutaro is on that list. He’s been a solid slightly above average mlb shortstop over the last 2 years for not much money. More fWAR than Jeter over that time.
You’re probably right about Scutaro. He hasn’t been a bust, but I think he has been miscast as shortstop. I am not a big fan of fWAR because I think UZR is close to useless, but even granting the comp, it should be noted that Jeter’s salary is a legacy figure.
Agreed on Scutaro. The current value of a marginal win is somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.5 million. Per bWAR Scutaro’s been worth 3.9 WAR over his two year contract, which would translate to roughly $17.6 million during his Red Sock tenure. Fangraphs is even more generous, pegging his two-year value at $22.5 million. Split the difference and we get $20M of value for only $12.5M. Definitely not a bust.
As a lifelong Yankee fan I am constantly amazed and frustrated at the impenetrable strength of Brian Cashman’s teflon suit. Indeed for every “horrible” transaction cited for Epstein above, there is a matching item from Cashman.
Skeptical eh? Fine. One by one, then:
Bobby Jenks – take your pick. I’ll go with Steve Karsay for $6 million Alex (honorable mention Pedro Feliciano).
Carl Crawford – easy. Alex Rodriguez. AND STOP with the “It was Hank’s fault” crap. I didn’t see El Teflono resigning did you? Honorable mention: Mark Teixeira (Ok so that’s a clear second guess as I was as happy as the next guy. But I’m not paid millions of $$ to be the GM of the New York Yankees full time – Brian Cashman is. And I’d sure wouldn’t mind investing my Teixeira dollars in The Family Guy’s favorite baseball player – Luis Pujols or Prince Fielder!
Mike Cameron – Well – The Cash-man rarely signs OF’s – and so it wasn’t a signing but is everyone tickled we traded Jose Tabata for Xavier Nady? Or let Damon AND Matsui walk after the Series? And the last time I checked Yankee outcast Lance Berkman had a pret-ty tidy 2011. Make that IS HAVING…
John Lackey – EASY. Carl Pavano
Dice K – even easier. Kei Igawa
Edgar Renteria – um, Tony Womack? No? Wilson Betemit?
Matt Clement – easy – Javier Vazquez. And Javier Vazquez: The Return. How about Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver?
And on and on…
Bottom line – during Epstein’s reign the cursed Sox ended a curse older than me and my father, and won 2 championships. We won 1.
Want to fire Epsteim off of 2011? No problem – who cares? But, PLEASE let’s not fall all over ourself rhapsodizing on the genius of Brian Cashman!
Off the bat, nowhere above does it say Cashman has been perfect, so I am not sure why a post about Theo’s misses requires a recitation of Cashman’s. That point aside, some of your examples are way off base.
The Arod comp is ridiculous for the very reason you cited…it was as much a business decision as a baseball one. What’s more Arod has still been very productive since signing the new deal.
Igawa is another example of a deal that wasn’t Cashman’s.
Finally, Renteria’s deal was much longer and more lucrative than Womack, and Betemit is a bad example because he was acquired for Proctor and then flipped for Swisher.
I could spend a post comparing Cashman’s trades and signings to Theo, and Cashman would easily come out on top, in my opinion, but once again, there was no rhapsodizing about him in this piece, so, maybe you shouldn’t bother fighting strawmen?
Also, Cashman has been the Yankees GM for over 1.5X times as long as Epstein was Boston’s GM and I don’t even see where you says that Theo wasn’t a good GM on balance. Whatever this guy is trying to prove, he’s doing a bad job of it.
“Cashman was forced to scour the scrapheap to fill the roles abandoned by Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee…”
Wait…what? Must be going senile, since I don’t remember Lee’s time in pinstripes.
Just because the Yankees want an FA, doesn’t mean they’re entitled to them.
Where did he say the Yankees were entitled to Lee? He said the roles abandoned by them. Very clearly the Yankees had a role for Cliff Lee picked out, and they fought very hard to get him to assume said role. He didn’t, and now they have to find someone to replace the role they envisioned for Lee.
This is terrific. I understand that Theo had his flaws as all GM’s do, but hes a great GM. Better than Cashman? I don’t know and no one can really say definitively either way because Cashman gets overridden often. I am a young Yankee fan, I barely remember the late 90s dynasty so to say the Red Sox were never more a threat to the Yankees than “Theo’s Sox” could be showing my age a little bit. I will say this though, you can throw all the regular season wins and playoff appearances at me that you’d like but who do you think remembers 2002-2011 more fondly, a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan?
My fandom comes back to the early-to-mid 1980s, so it might be a matter of perspective, but I wouldn’t trade the Yankees’ 2002-2011 for the Red Sox. Of course, I am big proponent of the division being a major accomplishment, so Boston’s ONE first place finish since 1995 wouldn’t sit too well with me.
I would put allowing Beltre slipping through his fingers as a Theo misstep as well. He sure looks good in October to me.
I think it’s more fair to give him credit for signing in him in the first place, although before the season, I posted about how the Sox might not be better off with AGon/Crawford over Beltre/VMart, a big part being the defensive superiority of Beltre over Youkilis (also, playing 3B may have contributed to Youk’s injury plagued season).
Let’s not get Theo Epstein or Brian Cashman confused with the genius of Steve Jobs. Neither Epstein nor Cashman are geniuses – not even close. Will Epstein remove the Cubs’ Curse of the Billy Goat? This remains to be seen. But I was just writing to one of my Yankee buddies earlier this morning about how we miss the winning tandem of Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Andy Pettitte. Those guys showed Yankee fans how Championships are played and won.