The car kept clunking on the way to the World Series, so with the price of its luxury vehicle ever-rising and its farm system running low on fuel, the Boston Red Sox last November handed the keys to a new young driver on their quest for a championship.
Theo Epstein had never himself been in the driver’s seat of a Major League franchise. But after Boston’s exhaustive search for a new general manager failed to produce a satisfactory candidate after more than a month, Sox management decided to buck the trend of rehiring retreads, and instead opted for the then-28-year-old Brookline native to lead the team’s trip toward the future.
‘This is not your father’s Oldsmobile,’ said Sox President Larry Lucchino in November.
But, then again, your father’s Red Sox haven’t won a world title in 85 years, and by hiring the youngest general manager in the history of baseball, Lucchino and principal owner John Henry have signaled a change in philosophy that includes less money for the major leaguers and more resources for the minor leaguers.
The move also completes the year-long takeover by Henry’s ownership group, which fired former GM Dan Duquette within 24 hours of taking power last February, and appointed Harrington-holdover Mike Port to the position for the 2002 season.
After guiding the team to its Major League record-tying fifth consecutive second-place finish, Port interviewed to be the Sox’ full-time GM, but the team sought outside candidates, and thought it had pried its No. 1 choice, Billy Beane, away from the Oakland A’s in mid-November. But Beane, renowned as one of the best executives in baseball and a skilled talent evaluator, cited family considerations before backing out of a Boston deal before details were finalized.
That brought Epstein into the picture, who was an assistant GM under Port. Epstein joined the Sox organization last March when he followed Lucchino to Boston from the San Diego Padres. Prior to their experience on the West Coast, the duo first worked together in Baltimore, when Epstein was a Yale intern and Lucchino was in the Orioles’ front office.
‘I’ve known Theo for years, and I’ve known that he has an exceptional mind,’ Lucchino said in a statement. ‘We’ve known that he’d be a general manager someday, but we didn’t know when the process began that when it would end, he would be our top choice. It’s a testament to his abilities that he emerged as the best from a wide array of choices.’
On the job for barely 50 days, Epstein has been a busy player in baseball’s hot stove league since Nov. 25. Since opening his era by signing former Sox antagonist Ryan Rupe, Boston has been in the running for some of the biggest names in the free agent pool.
But with more than $70 million tied up by its core players, and ownership’s desire to keep the payroll under $100 million, the Sox came away without a big name to satisfy the title-sized appetite of its fans. Jeff Kent went to Houston, Edgardo Alfonzo to San Francisco, Bartolo Colon to Chicago, Cliff Floyd to the New York Mets and, despite efforts that took Epstein to Nicaragua in search of a deal, Cuban defector Jose Contreras landed in New York, snatched by the tentacles of the Evil Empire.
But bringing in the big names isn’t what Theo set out to do. From the beginning he has said the team’s goal for the upcoming season is to make the postseason (something it hasn’t done since 1999), with the long-term being the construction of a ‘scouting and player development machine.’
For the short-term, Epstein has put a premium on low-budget relievers, letting Ugueth Urbina take his 40 saves to Texas while retaining the cheaper Alan Embree. He has signed Bill Mueller and traded for Todd Walker and Jeremy Giambi to fill out the infield, but some fans say his bullpen signings have been his most important moves.
‘The bullpen, for sure [is where he’ll make an impact this year],’ according to 44-year-old Sox fan John Curran of Linden, N.J. ‘He has made the most efficient use of the available talent to give the Sox a real chance of having a dominant pen in 2003. Again, it depends on whether these guys stay healthy.’
A religious Boston baseball fan for more than 35 years, Curran puts his pulse on Red Sox Nation by joining into the banter on the team’s online message boards, which he said were very mixed in their reaction to the news of Epstein’s hire.
‘Many were optimistic, while others balked at hiring an inexperienced kid,’ Curran said. ‘If he followed anyone other than the Duke [Duquette], he’d have probably gotten a harder time.’
But Epstein has been granted somewhat of a grace period by the typically bloodthirsty Boston fans. It was never ‘Dan’ when Duquette was here, nor was it ‘Mike’ when Port was in charge. Now it’s simply ‘Theo,’ the kid who uses AOL Instant Messenger, grew up in Brookline and whose dad teaches creative writing at Kenmore Square-neighbor Boston University.
‘[Being a local] doesn’t matter,’ said Bruce McClure, 34, of Wethersfield, Conn. ‘What matters is one thing … winning a World Series.’
And only time will tell if inexperience will hinder Epstein in that quest.
‘Of course, [his inexperience hurts Epstein],’ said Dale Sprenkle, 54, of Dallastown, Penn. ‘The flip side of that question would be, ‘Does his experience help him?’ If experience helps, inexperience hurts. What remains to be seen is how much it hurts him. I wouldn’t be too concerned about him.
‘Experience can be overemphasized. Sometimes it appears that the main qualification to be a manager or general manager is to have been fired before.’
Curran worries that because of Epstein’s youth he turned 29 before the start of the year, making 21 of the Red Sox’ 40-man roster older than their boss other negotiators or GMs might try and swindle the newcomer. However, McClure said Lucchino’s protective layer should prevent that from happening, and remains optimistic.
‘I think one can take a look at this team, with its new philosophy of high on-base percentage lineups to realize that this is a good team,’ said McClure, a 28-year Sox fan. ‘They will get on base and score runs. Pitching should hold up, and with the addition of one more pitcher not necessarily of Colon’s caliber they should get to 95 wins. This team will be exciting.’
Of course it will be an exciting trip. After all, the guy behind the wheel is still learning to drive.