Since the Boston Red Sox were purchased by John Henry's group back in 2002, they have been a model organization - that is until General Manager Theo Epstein's resignation last Monday. And although this has been the biggest baseball story all week, no real answers have surfaced to explain the parting of ways.
ESPN's Peter Gammons has claimed Epstein was tired of the rock-star status his job entails. The Boston Globe's Dan Shaugnessy has tried to absolve himself after his column in last Sunday's paper reportedly provoked anger from the now-former GM. The Boston Herald centered more on Epstein's relationship with his boss, Red Sox President Larry Lucchino.
So what really happened? Since Epstein, Lucchino, and Henry aren't really spilling the beans, we're just going to have to do some old-fashioned speculation (based on facts, of course).
This whole mess actually seems pretty easy to piece together. The guess here is that Theo would have been happy to come back, but he wasn't pining to come back. In the end he was getting tired of Lucchino leaking things to the press and decided he couldn't trust him.
The idea that Epstein was sick and tired of his high profile in Boston doesn't follow with the fact that he asked for a contract extension during spring training last year.
Also, this wasn't a case of Sox management begging Theo to re-sign and him constantly stonewalling them; Epstein was active in the process and all sorts of different salary figures were thrown around by both sides. The former GM danced around questions all afternoon at last Wednesday's press conference, but he made one thing very clear: he was not burned out. The evidence suggests Epstein was neither sick of his job nor so tired of his celebrity status that he wanted out of Boston.
Sure, Epstein may have found a few parts of his job to be excessively taxing, but many signs pointed to him being willing to go re-sign with the Sox until...
The infamous Dan Shaugnessy column! Shaugnessy's article, while praising Epstein at times, had far more glowing things to say about Lucchino. Consider this excerpt:
"Let's start with Theo being a 'baseball guy' while Larry is a lawyer with a lofty title (CEO). Granted, Epstein is a student of the game, but it's a mistake to say he knows more about baseball than Lucchino or anyone else in the Red Sox baseball operation. Theo is 31 years old and did not play baseball past high school. He spent four years at Yale and three years at law school.
That hardly leaves time for much more than rotisserie league scouting ... Lucchino was a good high school baseball player and made it to the NCAA Final Four with Princeton's basketball team. He came to baseball as an executive in 1979, when Theo was 5 years old."
Now, Theo probably didn't cry himself to sleep after reading this, as some in the media have suggested. But what may very well have heavily factored into his decision to leave is this passage:
"Lucchino-bashers, and they are a legion, maintain that he repeatedly has undermined Theo and on occasion killed deals made by Epstein and the minions. There was one, for sure. When Theo's assistant Josh Byrnes (hired by Arizona as GM Friday) made a deal with Colorado, Epstein thought he had a better deal with another club and requested that Lucchino fall on the sword and invoke the ownership approval clause to kill the Rockies deal. Accustomed to people hating him, Lucchino took the fall, killing the deal and saving Epstein."
That quote by Shaugnessy is a vastly new interpretation of the Colorado trade. When Epstein read those lines on Sunday, he must have known they could come only from Larry Lucchino or one of his top assistants. Not only that, Epstein surely realized the only purpose of such a leak was to embarrass him and portray his boss in a better light.
These types of leaks forced Epstein to think twice about the people he would be working under for the next three or so years. Epstein has a law degree and anyone who follows the Red Sox knows he speaks very, very carefully. And so his quote at a press conference last Wednesday carries that much more weight, clarifying that his relationship with Lucchino was a major factor in his decision to leave.
"There was a process leading up to the decision during which we really turned the microscope on ourselves and the organization and relationships," Epstein said at that press conference. "To do this job you have to believe in every aspect of the job...You have to believe in the people you work with."
Epstein was careful not to criticize his boss openly because he owes much of his success to Lucchino. So Epstein decided to take the high road and not point the finger explicitly at the Red Sox President.
While Epstein's resignation may only add to the negative light shed on Lucchino by the media, which portrays him as a meddler and a George Steinbrenner-esque figure, the prevailing wisdom surround Lucchino is not accurate.
Don't forget that Lucchino had great success with both the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres. And if you think he wasn't a major part of Boston's success to this point, you're fooling yourself. Lucchino is a brilliant individual and in general a very effective CEO, but in this situation he overplayed his hand severely, and it will cost the Boston Red Sox dearly.
Whether Boston can find a GM who can shepherd the team through what will prove to be a challenging next few years remains to be seen. But it's almost certain that the team will not find a replacement to match Epstein's unique combination of quantitative ability, scouting instinct, and ability to communicate with the players and the media.
