The Red Sox appear headed for an interesting offseason; here's the latest.
- A Major League source close to Theo Epstein told ESPN's Gordon Edes it's "50-50" the Red Sox GM would leave for the right situation. Edes hears Epstein "believes in honoring a contract that has a year remaining," yet owner John Henry "would not stand in the way if Epstein wanted to pursue another opportunity." Edes feels that while giving Epstein a club president title would be a promotion, the business aspect of that role has never held appeal for him. If Epstein leaves, Edes has a source who would be very surprised if current assistant GM Ben Cherington didn't replace him.
- Edes believes that if the Cubs or Angels intend to make a move for Epstein, it will come as early as this week. The Red Sox "will likely ask for stiff compensation if they permit Epstein to leave for the Cubs, though an extension is still possible," tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Sources are split on whether Angels owner Arte Moreno wants Epstein, writes Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.
- Edes says the Red Sox have internally discussed Sandy Alomar Jr., Dave Martinez, Pete Mackanin, Ryne Sandberg, and Tony La Russa as candidates to replace Terry Francona as manager. It is tricky to have Epstein overseeing this process given his uncertainty, but Cherington is involved as well.
- In a must-read article, WEEI's Rob Bradford addresses the future of each Red Sox position player.
The Cubs should hope that they can somehow fall rearend first into someone like Theo Epstein. After they dropped the ball tremendously with the Sandberg situation they desperately need to make a strong statement to their fans.(Not one.. White Sox fan) Maybe just maybe they could make ammends with Ryno and pair him with Theo and end their “curse” so everyone else that doesnt care wont have to hear about how many years its been since bla bla bla… Much love for the Cubby fans tho
While would liketo see the Cubs get managers as well as GM’s who are of top notch caliber, they always seem (or most of the time) generally end up with people on the “loser end” of the spectrum, or have a “failure tag” applied to them. Pinella and “stick” Michael were not of that variety, but go back through history and it is there.
Cubs chose Hendry, Zimmer (of epic collapses) unknown Quade, Riggleman, Kimm.. it goes on and on..
Not saying that Epstein will jump, but they have had chances to acquire a protege of a Towers, or Beane before, yet kept hendry on before he was finally dumped so the chances were there when they could have improved already.
Epstein should go to the Cubs to break another curse. Then Billy Beane can go to the Red Sox and we can get “Moneyball 2: The Search for More Money.”
Sequels are never as good as the originals.
Really? I always liked Return of the Jedi over Star Wars.
You are insane.
I’ve been told that by a lot of people… mostly by every ex.
The Empire Strikes Back is the best of them all! lol
Sandy has already done that too the Mets
HAhaha, Spaceballs. Nice.
Glad someone got it. Especially an Arrested Development fan.
Stiff compensation, you say? Maybe my sarcastic “Theo for Garza” comment on a previous post isn’t as far fetched as I thought.
Theo for Garza?
Theo, make the trade!
I dont know what you Red Sox fans are complain about theo has helped the Bo sox two two world series not too mention multiple playoff appearance
Oh believe me, I love Theo and have always been a big supporter of him. In fact, when everyone complained about the Drew contract, I’ve always tried to find ways to defend him. This comment was more about getting Garza than losing Theo.
As much as I love Theo, he does have his weaknesses and I think a major one is in free agent signings.
which is exactly the weakness you want a GM in a huge market to have, if he has to have one
the only relevant question is “who is going to do better than he could”. short of andrew freidman or maybe billy beane, no one
and we can’t even be sure either those two would do a better job anyway. they have zero experience using those kind of resources to make big free agent decisions, and both probably praised the crawford signing and could have justified even the lackey signing in epstein’s position, too
it’s only in the delusional done-for-me-lately minds of fans that epstein is anything less than a fantastic GM
With his free agent track record, I wouldn’t say fantastic – although he is very good. I understand the difficulty and risk of signing an elite player. But take a look at Theo’s free agents signing in recent years…Lugo, Drew (this shouldn’t be considered disastrous as Drew was good in his 2nd and 3rd year), Dice-K, Lackey, Cameron, Renteria…the only good signing that comes to mind right now is Scutaro (I may be missing some, but I’m just thinking off the top of my mind).
Nevertheless, gotta give him credit for the players he has drafted and developed in Boston (Youk, Ells, Lester, Bard, Paps, Pedroia + trade baits for AGon). And you definitely gotta give him credit for no being afraid to make broad moves (most obviously trading ME away in 2004!)
adrian beltre worked out pretty well don’t you think? 7 WAR + blake swihart + jackie bradley for $10M?
how did you like alfredo aceves?
how did you like hideki okajima?
how did you like takashi saito?
how did you like mike timlin?
how did you like keith foulke?
how did you like bill mueller?
how did you like david ortiz?
funny how easy it is for people (not necessarily you) to forget those solid-to-absolutely awesome deals but can’t cry loudly enough about the bad ones – even when the bad ones are due to injuries (matsuzaka, cameron, jenks) and despite the fact that none of the bad ones have hindered development or sunk the team
Wow ok I missed some guys…but overall, he hasn’t done done well with big ticket free agents, with the exception of Ortiz (who isn’t really a big ticket free agent because he was acquired for nothing) and Foulke.
Now that you’ve mentioned it though, gotta give him credit for Mueller and Millar though, and also definitely for bring Schilling over to Boston. Nevertheless, big ticket free agent signings just have not gone well.
i would never argue that epstein has done well overall with free agents, especially expensive ones. it’s the one black mark on his career report card. it’s just not as big a deal as people make it out to be
Can someone explain this compensation for losing GM/managers (like in Ozzie’s situation)? I don’t remember the Red Sox being compensated for Brad Mills or John Farrell.
Two differences:
– Brad Mills and John Farrell were not managers or GMs
– Ozzie and Theo were not at the end of a contract
Almost always teams let a staff member take another job as long as it is a promotion. Farrell was pitching coach and Mills was bench coach, so they each were being offered a job title better than what they had. Ozzie and Theo would simply be changing teams while they are still under contract – hence why compensation is being asked.
What the Cubs COULD do, is offer Theo the position as team president. While it doesn’t mean the Sox would have to let him take it without compensation, it is what is usually done.
Actually, the Red Sox DID receive some “compensation” just for allowing the Blue Jays to interview Farrell, although it was really just a handshake agreement. The deal was that the Blue Jays would not take any of the Red Sox players in the upcoming Rule 5 draft. What’s even funnier is that the Blue Jays DID end up getting one of the Red Sox Rule 5 guys somehow via another team but then I think the Sox got him back or something I don’t even remember haha
Oh yeah, now that you mention that, I do remember reading about that back then.
I saw an interesting idea on another forum: Theo and Lackey to the cubs!
I go to a lot of Minor League games, Sox have nothing in the Minors for arms, especially for the Bullpen. Bard was the last impact arm developed in the Minors. Yankees have surpassed the Sox in the Minors. Theo said YEARS ago, I want to get young and dynamic, still see Varitek, Wakefield, on this team. He gave up some prospects for A-Gonz, had to get rid of Masterson because Varitek cant hit. Haggadone might be the sleeper in this trade still. Dubront was injured most of year, make him a starter, get Lavarnway in there, and start to Scout better for the Amatuer draft.
Matt Moore an 8th round pick for the Rays, case closed.
and we all know how vital it is to draft and develop those bullpen arms! those and bat boys
the yankees have surpassed them in the minors because they’ve done a phenomenal job with international free agency and the sox have used prospects to acquire big names e.g. victor martinez and adrain gonzalez. it would be remarkable if a team could trade that amount of talent away and still have a top farm, take a breath
“Matt Moore an 8th round pick for the Rays, case closed.”
the red sox got more production from homegrown talent than the rays in 100, case closed
whatever “case closed” means. the rays do a fantastic job at everything, so not doing something quite as well as they do is no insult to the red sox, who do basically do only one thing badly (big name free agents) – and it’s the one thing they can afford to fail at
Tony La Russa? I’d love to have him, but I doubt he’d leave St. Louis.
edes is a fairly reliable , but i don’t believe there’s much more than boston melodrama behind these rumors
Well Hughes started in BP did good, Robertson not bad. Batboys did better too. With the 100 pitch count that is now going on in Baseball, you better have a strong BP. Smart teams will realize that you better start developing the relievers in the Minors.
“bullpens are important, therefore teams should prioritize the development of bullpen pitchers. this is a complete analysis”
Every team develops bullpen guys. They’re called pitchers who can’t make it as starters.
Really? Scutaro would be the 2nd most coveted SS over Rollins? only in Boston….