Cubs scout
Hey, Theo.
Do it.
Who knows if the Chicago Cubs even have any tangible interest in bringing Theo Epstein aboard as a vice president, but if I’m the current Red Sox general manager, I would take a serious look at moving the family to Illinois.
Imagine going down in baseball history as the man to lead both the Boston Red Sox and the Cubs to World Series titles.
Curses aside, that’s Cooperstown material.
ESPN’s Buster Olney threw Epstein’s name at the wall this week in pontificating which personnel the Cubs might be looking at in filling their GM role after canning Jim Hendry this week, and suddenly Red Sox fans went into a tizzy, adamant that Theo would never dream of leaving his cushy job on Yawkey Way. Except for, you know, that time he left his cushy job on Yawkey Way.
He’s well-paid. He’s got arguably the best GM role in the game, with an endless stream of revenue that expires only when the phrase “luxury tax” comes up. He’s built a farm system on par with the best in baseball. He’s a mere mile from his hometown of Brookline. He’s a hero in a town that thirsted for a baseball title 86 years, and now is on the threshold of possibly adding a third in seven years.
And yet, Theo Epstein is widely underappreciated.
Part of it is our culture. Aside from the majority of Patriot fans, who react to criticism of their team about as well as Kevin Smith reacts to a salad, Boston is very much a “What have you done for me lately?” town. You don’t hear Celtics fans satisfied with 2007, and if the Bruins falter, they’ll experience the same soon. The Red Sox know that well enough when they watched their ratings for the 2010 season plummet. But following an offseason that saw an unprecedented re-tool (Best Team Ever, some say), the Nielsens are up, the Sox are in first place, and…John Henry gets the credit for opening his wallet.
Theo gets criticism for his free agent blunders.
Remember when Epstein pontificated in the spring about there simply being something more pure about building a baseball team from within? I took that as a significant sign that he wasn’t psyched about signing Carl Crawford to a 45-year, $900 million contract, or whatever the numbers were. Believe what you want, but I’m on the side that Crawford was an ownership decision, and that the tradeoff was that the trio allowed Epstein to go out and grab his binky Adrian Gonzalez in exchange. Theo takes the rap for Crawford, Renteria, Lugo, Drew, Lackey. The minority give him credit for Pedroia, Ellsbury, Bard, Lester, Buchholz, when it is indeed the latter that the GM has to be most proud of, and the reason why he should be so highly regarded in baseball.
Theo preaches patience, which is more important in the game’s immediacy and long-haul than anything else. Ownership? What’s in your wallet?
“This kind of speculation happens from time to time on successful GMs and managers,” Henry wrote in an e-mail earlier this week. “The Cubs have one of the best presidents in baseball. I think this shows how highly regarded Theo is by the media and baseball in general.”
Not exactly “Theo is here for life, if I have anything to say about it,” is it?
The fact that Theo is from here may be the exact reason he might want to leave. When he took over in 2002, this was still largely a baseball town with a passionate, knowledgeable fan base. Nine years and two World Series later, it’s become a circus act. The Red Sox are a brand more than a baseball team, a chunk of the portfolio. The Patriots have overtaken the Olde Towne Team as the undisputed No. 1 sporting attraction in the state, and frankly, the Bruins are probably not far behind. It’s a football town. Twenty Guest Street finally realized it’s a hockey town. But a baseball town where the game overshadows all other sports? Nope. Not anymore.
The Sox are an attraction, up there with the Freedom Trail and Quincy Market. But a passion? For some, sure. If you took a poll though, I’d guarantee the numbers are a lot lower than they were a half-decade ago. Part of that has to do with the complacency of winning. Part has to do with the bottom of the eighth.
We can argue until we’re Smurf blue about whether or not the baseball culture in Boston is better or worse since 2004, but in Chicago, Epstein would certainly have the chance to change one for the better. Cubs fans are popularly perceived as laissez-faire…well, drunks. Everyone assumes what a great baseball town Chicago is, when the fact of the matter is, only Bill Murray and Bartman in Hiding probably care what the Cubs’ record is come October. What if Epstein were able to build a winner there? What if he could do it his way?
Isn’t that something to consider?
Isn’t that something to seriously consider?
Boston’s been fun, but Epstein might want a new challenge. And if the Cubs job is indeed in the cards, it’s a challenge worth taking.
Red Sox.
Cubs.
See ya in the World Series, Theo.
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