Welcome Home Theo. After Saving The Chicago Cubs, Then Major League Baseball As A Whole, Theo Epstein Is Returning Home To Boston, To Hopefully Get The Red Sox Back On track
ESPN - Theo Epstein, who as Red Sox general manager was the architect of two World Series championships, is returning to the organization as a minority owner and part-time senior adviser to its parent company, Fenway Sports Group.
Epstein, who also helped the Chicago Cubs win the 2016 title -- their first in 108 years -- will advise the sports and entertainment conglomerate on operations and investment strategy.
"This is truly a unique opportunity for me -- a chance to partner with people who mean a lot to me; a chance to challenge myself in new arenas; and a chance to use my experience and perspective to help others succeed and win at the highest level," Epstein said in a statement. "The special connection I feel toward this organization and the ownership group has stayed with me through the years."
Major apologies for not being more prompt on this bombshell story. I got stuck in zoom meetings all morning then dealing with bar issues and thought for sure somebody would have already had this covered in some way shape or form since this is Barstool SPORTS and all. And we did start as a Boston company. And it's a Friday no less! But luckily for me, nobody else did so it falls to me.
This is a major story not just for Sox fans, but for baseball as a whole. If there's anybody in modern-day sports who has the Midas Touch, it's the Brookline, MA native who grew up dreaming to one day play for the Red Sox.
After parlaying a gig under the one-eyed-bandit, Larry Luchino, in San Diego, into a return home to Boston, (with the bandit), to head up the front office for the recently acquired Henry-Werner organization in 2001, it couldn't have been a more perfect homecoming. (Insane to think it was that long ago.)
A year later, he was appointed General Manager (at the time, the youngest in the history of baseball). And two years later he did the unthinkable in trading away Red Sox legend Nomar Garciaparra, and acquiring Bill Mueller and Curt Schilling, which helped break the century-old curse and win Boston's its first World Series Championship since 1918.
For reasons the public still isn't aware of, Luchino ran Epstein out of town on a rail (because that's just what the one-eyed-bandit does) and Epstein resigned on Halloween night, 2005, leaving Fenway Park in a movie studio quality gorilla costume.
In a strange occurrence of events, 3 months later the organization announced he was returning to resume being GM and vice-president of operations. The Sox won the following years World Series in 2007, cementing Epstein in baseball, and New England folklore for eternity. He was somebody our kids' kids would be telling their children about one day.
Three years later, it was over again.
Constant clashing and backpage whisperings of internal conflicts between Luchino and Epstein became too much, and to the shock of pretty much the entire world, Epstein announced he has moving to Chicago- taking a job with the dumpster fire Chicago Cubs, a team that also handn't called themselves champs in 100 years. He would be team president, signing a five-year contract worth $18.5 million, and bringing his pal Jed Hoyer from San Diego to be GM.
On October 23, 2011, he took out a full-page ad in The Boston Globe, thanking Red Sox fans and the team's owners for their support.
Luchino and the Red Sox did their best to spread lies and stab him in the back on his way out the door. (Just as they did to Terry Francona. Just as they did with Jon Lester.)
Which is why this homecoming announcement today really is such a huge deal. Which I'll get to in a minute.
The Red Sox would go on to win 2 more World Championships in 2013 and 2018 with a core and key pieces that Epstein had put together and drafted - Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts to name a few.
He didn't skip a beat moving one time zone over, to the National League in Chicago. There, he got right to work turning not just the ball club around, but the entire organization's culture. I got to watch firsthand as he brought key behind-the-scenes players from Boston to Chicago with him to bring the decrepit Cubs' ballpark up to speed with the 21st century and to its rightful place atop all of the sports' most hallowed grounds.
The Cubs on the field and the park they played in were both the perfect metaphors for each other. A foundation that was crumbling, and had been crumbling for quite some time, that the owners had been trying to patch up and fix with quick, misguided, and overpriced "solutions". (I see you Alfonso Soriano).
Epstein got right to it, acquiring the guy he drafted in Boston, who was now in San Diego, Anthony Rizzo, drafting Kris Bryant after bottoming out with a 100-loss season, bringing his guy Jon Lester to town, and swindling Baltimore for Jake Arrieta.
The team arrived ahead of schedule and nearly won the whole damn thing in 2015 (personally the most fun baseball season I have ever had, and the greatest year I ever had working for the Cubs), before ending yet another curse and actually winning it all in 2016.
When Epstein announced he was departing Chicago in 2020, it was like a gut-punch. The Cubs window had closed, somehow, and Epstein had bigger things to accomplish it appeared, than rebuilding the team again for a second time.
Here's what I wrote at the time.
It'll take a long time to come to terms with it. Some of us, like Carl, might never be able to. And for perfectly good reason. Theo Epstein is quite literally a once in a lifetime baseball mind. Guys like him don't just come along. They're not groomed or trained. You can't practice or study 10,000 hours to be good at knowing baseball inside and out. At constructing not just a winning team on the field, but also a winning team behind the scenes from the office jobs, to the stadium jobs, to the teams waiting in the wings of the farm system, and replenishing it all yearly.
I don't have to sit here and suck his dick more. Everybody with a brain knows this. Which makes it all the more sad.
No offense to Jed Hoyer, but nobody can fill those shoes. Not just in terms of comparable performance. But in terms of reassurance.
Carl, to me, is the best true baseball fan I know. (I also think he's the best baseball writer in the country but that's for another blog) He manages to balance the tightrope thin line between nutjob fan and logical and knowledgeable fan better than anybody I've ever known or had the pleasure to read. And like Carl put so well yesterday, and today -
In my case, Theo let me be truly proud about the Cubs for the 1st time in my life. He did that for all of us. We knew we weren't just one injury away from 70 wins. We knew we had depth and resources and a shot at the division every year for the last 6 seasons. You can't even begin to describe the change that's had on the fanbase. The confidence and the positive experiences and the optimism. Everything was just an idea until Theo showed up. We were a fucking singalong by Eddie Vedder and nothing more.
Theo gave Cubs fans something they never had in their near 100 year existence before he showed up - trust and faith.
In the same way Patriots fans over the past 20 years have never had to worry, no matter how dark things seemed, because they know they have Belichick calling the shots, and there's literally never been anybody better, Theo was suddenly that guy for Cubs fans. Trust in Belichick. Trust in Theo.
Thank you Theo for bringing with you a winning culture. Not just your expertise, but moreso instilling an attitude of professionalism and winning in an organization that was snake-bitten and it's own worst enemy for decades and decades. (Yes the Ricketts family is also responsible for this) but bringing the mindset, culture, and people over from Boston that you did played a huge part in turning the organization's attitude to one that wasn't just "hey we belong", but "we do this better than anybody else".
- Thank you so much for bringing the people you did with you from Boston. From the ops and marketing and pr personnel, down to the Cubs production heads. I got to expeience first hand what working with some of the brightest and best in the field was like for the past 6 seasons. The Cubs went from having nothing more than an organist, (shout out Gary the G.O.A.T.) - no video boards, no real audio system- to leapfrogging everybody in baseball and having the best setup in the entire league top to bottom. Not only that, but having the luck to travel to so many football and baseball stadiums around the country the last few years, the Cubs offer the best in game experience in all of sports. That doesn't happen without Theo.
- Thank you for helping guide the Wrigley transformation like you did with Fenway. Before you Wrigley was a laughingstock. A baseball holy ground, but a dump. Now it's without a doubt the greatest ballpark in the league and debatably all of sports. It's somehow better than Fenway now which I never would have believed ten years ago.
- I forgive you, and thank you, for trading Nomar to the Cubs. If it had to happen, in hindsight, I'm glad it was to a city that appreciated him like Chicago did. Everytime I see a #5 Cubs jersey it brings a tear to my eye.
- Thank you for personally rehiring everybody's friend Jeff Magee after he was foolishly let go. You realized he, like so many others in the organization, meant much more to so many people, and the organization, than just their "title".
Major League Baseball had a major problem, and it needed Epstein's touch of gold for itself. The sport was dealing with declining fan interest, attendance, and serious game time lags.
Epstein's solutions were implementing and actually enforcing the pitch clock rule, banning that God damned shift once and for all, and restricting mound visits and pick-off attempts.
The improvements were immediate and impactful.
As he sets his sights on Fenway Park once again, let us pray for the same results.
In all honesty, I seriously thought he was waiting in the wings to become the next Commissioner. Which was the logical next step and only mountain really left for him to climb.
But I couldn't be happier with this news. Hopefully he's able to get the Red Sox back on track one more time before returning to NY and taking over the Commissioner's Office.
The Red Sox are a fucking disaster right now.
They just parted ways with a moron they hired away from Tampa Bay to oversee their personnel and GM duties. To say he was in over his head would make Lori Lightfoot overqualified.
Chaim Bloom proceeded to gut the team of the aforementioned superstars Theo drafted and the farm system nurtured, including a generational superstar and fan favorite in Mookie Betts. Something Red Sox fans will NEVER get over.
Hubbs actually wrote a really good piece this week about how directionless and lost the Henry-Werner group has been in all things baseball and how they can’t seem to stop adding things to their plate that aren’t related to the Red Sox and winning. (The PGA/LIV now being the most recent business venture)
Hopefully, bringing Theo back into the fold changes this.
Like the Patriots, the team is floundering for the first time in a long time. It has no identity. No superstars. Nobody that makes you want to actually get excited to watch play for fork over a months mortgage payment to take your family to go watch in person.
There’s a lot of work to be done.
I've spent the past couple of hours asking the people I talk to in and around baseball, the Red Sox, and Cubs, for their thoughts on this announcement and what exactly it means for Boston, since it was somewhat vague.
Here's what I got - After Jürgen Klopp departs from Liverpool, he’ll be consulting in their process to find a replacement.
He will be advising FSG owners John Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon, and Sam Kennedy on company operations throughout their portfolio. (Yawn)
“He will also consult on strategic growth and investment initiatives.” He “will have a high-level consulting role on big-picture endeavors and major strategic initiatives for FSG.”
When it comes to the Red Sox, he’ll work as a “sounding board and executive coach” for Craig Breslow. It's the same for Penguins GM Kyle Dubas. (To be honest, I completely forgot FSG had a major stake in Pittsburgh)
Here's what Ken Rosenthal had to say today -
Here's what our guy Jared Carrabis had -
p.s. - since we don't have a Red Sox writer anymore should I attempt to cover them going forward until we do? Like Bill Simmons blogging the Celtics while living in LA, or Portnoy being the new Boston sports guy while living in Miami and NYC. Chicago's closer and I'm home more than either of them, so maybe that works?
p.p.s.- this was laugh-out-loud funny. funny because it's sad/true. (no offense to Costco of course)
p.p.s. - never forget -
p.p.p.p.s. - once you get Boston back on track, set your sights on Worcester and the Woo-Sox Theo. Turn that place into a gem and that’ll be a real feather in your cap. If you need any help I am down