Peter Gammons on Sportscenter

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Peter Gammons on Sportcenter was commenting on Theo Epstein's departure from Boston...

He said that Josh Byrnes did more in Boston than Theo Epstein.

He also said that he wouldn't be surprised if most of the front office in Boston left and came here as well now that Theo isn't there.

Don't know what to make of that other than I am somewhat shocked. Gammons is a reliable source on most information in baseball so this does prove to be a very interesting development.
 

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I have mixed feelings on this.... The Red Sox haven't exactly been a team that develops its own talent. They mostly just throw money at free agents or aquire their talent through trades.


it'll be interesting to see how this braintrust develops a team with a limited budget
 

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They are math nerds. They'll find a way to calculate the loss into their player selections, and form us into the Sabermatrician superteam!!! We'll be sabermetrically perfect; no bunting, stealing or giving up outs. This team will understand that all runs are precious, and approach outs as major defeats. This team will face off against other Sabermatrician teams, such as that of sabermatricians Billy Beane, Theo Epstien, and there will be epic battles. I look forward to the continued success of our sabermetric superteam, headed by young Byrnes. (His trademark response in interviews should be a well practiced Mr. Burns "ehhxxxcelent", for accelerated esteem around the league).
 

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Wow, the bottom line had Epstien agreeing to a three year extension earlier in the day....

so does epstien become a consultant for the Dbacks now...:D

thats awesome about what Gammons said...i have been waiting for his analysis on this with his knowledge of Boston, and that is GREAT news that a respected analyst thinks that Byrnes was the brains behind the title last year.....

Go Dbacks.....lets start seeing some of that scouting acumen we keep hearing about from Byrnes....
 

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Theo probably goes to the Dodgers. That's my guess.
 

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Gammons is a totally unreliable piece of journalistic crap. Hedda Hopper without the hat. Other than that...

I'd be shocked if Theo goes to LA. His main beef was meddling owners - can you say "Mr. and Mrs. McCourt are mesmerized by Tommy Lasorda's murmured memories" three times real fast? I'd bet San Diego. Alderson was the original stat guy mentor and Towers was reportedly out the door as soon as Alderson stepped in. Plus Theo knows SD.

Not all in Boston were math nerds - and I am not too happy with the notion of hauling over that baggage - keep Rizzo, but otherwise, go out and attract the best guys from all over the place. Mix it up, don't just do a hair transplant!!

Although if he brings Bill James here, that would be fun. Our local stat guys would all stroke out, of course.
 
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What do you have against Gammons? Calling a hall of fame reporter a peice of crap is going a little overboard
 

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Gammons is a totally unreliable piece of journalistic crap. Hedda Gabler without the hat. Other than that...


:shrug: Wow, I was under the impression everyone thought Gammons to be one of the top three baseball writers of our time. I guess that just goes to show theres something out there for everyone. Personally i think Gammon's insight and writing skill are second to none.....
 

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I don't think I'm alone in regarding Gammons as a hack. He is of the 'print enough rumors/make enough stuff up and throw it out and something has to stick and then you look brilliant' school of journalism. This I have from a baseball insider at a high level.
Likewise Bob Nightengale.

Now Tim Kurkjian? If he says it, it's pretty solid.
 

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AZZenny said:
I don't think I'm alone in regarding Gammons as a hack. He is of the 'print enough rumors/make enough stuff up and throw it out and something has to stick and then you look brilliant' school of journalism. This I have from a baseball insider at a high level.
Likewise Bob Nightengale.

Now Tim Kurkjian? If he says it, it's pretty solid.

Hmmm i disagree...while Gammons is constantly throwing out rumors, i have enough faith that he is not just sitting in a room making these things up. Hes telling the viewing public what kind of talks are going on and what teams are willing to do what. Alot of the potential trades and announcements might never end up happening but that doesn't mean they were not talked about....I go into reading a Gammons article knowing that, but still knowing that alot of these "talks" have turned into something more as well.....

Plus i feel like he understands what constitues winning baseball the most of the ESPN guys and i think some of the best stories are the ones that are never made public. Gammons usually gets those stories...
 

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Mojo said:
What do you have against Gammons? Calling a hall of fame reporter a peice of crap is going a little overboard

O geez.... MANY years ago (pre-ESPN days) Gammons might have had a shred of journalistic credibility, but ever since he sold his soul to the Devil.. he has become little more than a "media *****," as he strives to be the Hedda Hopper of baseball gossip. He no longer does serious baseball journalism, but has now gone the easy route and is often used as a pawn by whatever front office wants to spread unfounded spin.

Totally shocking that he got voted into the HOF during this period of his career.
 

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AZZenny said:
I don't think I'm alone in regarding Gammons as a hack. He is of the 'print enough rumors/make enough stuff up and throw it out and something has to stick and then you look brilliant' school of journalism. This I have from a baseball insider at a high level.
Likewise Bob Nightengale.

Now Tim Kurkjian? If he says it, it's pretty solid.

I would have to agree. Gammons is mostly just hypothetical speculation that (more often than not) never comes true. He gets his information from the whispers in the hall and not from A). players or B). Owners/GMs.

He is the sort that chucks slime onto a wall and whatever sticks, he uses.
 

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It's all about Ken Rosenthal, he has been getting the big scoops way before Gammons for years now but does it for an outlet other than ESPN so he gets little recognition. I'll believe Gammons however when it comes to Boston sports because I'm sure he has contacts there, anywhere else though his thoughts should be taken with a grain of salt.

I still do enjoy his stuff though because he is a good writer and talks baseball exclusively.
 

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Gawd, Gammons hasn't a shred of credibility when it comes to anything related to the Red Sox.

He is nothing more than a shill for Red Sox management, creating whispers about players going to the Red Sox, or being ready to sign with them. He has his nose so far up the Red Sox butt, that anything he says is suspect.

Gammons saying that Byrnes really was the brains behind the Sox after Epstein resigns. I smell a rat. Or rather someone trying to turn turds into roses (whisper - who needed Epstein, Byrnes was the real brains). Anything not to make the Red Sox look bad.
 
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Wow I didn't realize that there was such hatred for Gammons. Some of you guys really cease to amaze me.
 

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schillingfan said:
Gammons saying that Byrnes really was the brains behind the Sox after Epstein resigns. I smell a rat. Or rather someone trying to turn turds into roses (whisper - who needed Epstein, Byrnes was the real brains). Anything not to make the Red Sox look bad.
That's EXACTLY the kind of negative rumor mongering that corporations (inlcuding baseball organizations) do to anyone that "leaves the family." Of course, locals here are perhaps more familiar with how the Dbacks begin the negative whispering campaigns against the Rubys, Overbays, Spiveys, etc. before they get traded.

The BoSox and every other organization KNOWS that Gammons will spread whatever garbage they want to the public.... and he gets paid well for being a pawn in the game.
 

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RedStripe27 said:
Wow I didn't realize that there was such hatred for Gammons. Some of you guys really cease to amaze me.

Hatred????

I've no idea what you mean by that--it's NOT hatred.... It's more a case of being aware of how the media works and knowing HOW Gammons gets his sources. I'm surprised that sophisticated fans can be gullible enough to listen/read him without skepticism.
 

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Hey mgj - there are probably some people who think John Gambodoro is a knowledgeable source on baseball, so not surprising folks believe in a HOF-er like PG. But like you, I was really surprised to see him get that nod at this point in his career.

I don't hate him - I just don't think he's worth reading most of the time, certainly not his 'tips,' and am bothered that people give him so much credence. (He's also pretty irritating to listen to on radio or TV.) If Kurkjian or Jayson Stark passes on a rumor, I listen, albeit skeptically. With PG, I don't even listen anymore.

I'm not sure anyone involved with the Boston media should be considered a legit source - watching and reading them in recent years - esp with Hillenbrand, interestingly enough - they are about as gossippy and backstabbing a group, taken on the whole, as you'll find in sports journalism.

I will give PG a little credit there - he's not nearly as malicious as some writers, although he sure tried to clobber us for quite awhile after his pal Buck was moved out.
 

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Interesting stuff from The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. Now this guy is a fine writer, a lifelong Red Sox fan, and NOT an insider. After saying he felt Theo was mildly overrated - needed more time to prove himself rather than maybe really chalking a lot up to serendipity - and also giving Theo kudos for a number of really brilliant decisions as well:

Why the hell would Theo leave?

I had a feeling this could happen right after the White Sox series, as soon as I started hearing whispers from semi-connected people back home that the relationship between Theo and minority owner Larry Lucchino was much more complicated than anyone imagined. There were rumors about a squashed Manny trade, as well as some second-guessing from the higher-ups, with the biggest problem being that Lucchino (an infamous attention hog) seemed to be bristling from the attention that Theo was receiving.

Don't forget, when this current ownership group bought the team, John Henry and Tom Werner were the money guys, and Lucchino was given a minority stake in return for three things: (1) He would run the day-to-day operations of the franchise; (2) he would handle revamping Fenway Park and derive as much income as possible from the team's revenue sources (the surrounding streets around the park, the team's cable station, advertising inside the park and so on); and (3) he would have a certain amount of control over the team's baseball decisions. In retrospect, Lucchino was a genius -- because Henry was a private man and Tom Werner had been burned by his experience in San Diego, Lucchino convinced them to make him a de facto co-owner (as well as the visible one) without assuming nearly the same financial burden.

So when he watched Theo's stock continue to rise (Lucchino's protégé, by the way), you could see this collision coming a mile away. Put yourself in Theo's shoes -- he wins the World Series and achieves his lifelong dream, he's a demigod in Boston, he's a hot commodity in baseball … and not only is he wildly underpaid, he's still answering to someone who considers himself Theo's mentor, as well as someone who routinely second-guessed and even squashed some of his moves. How was that a good situation? At some point, if you were Theo Epstein, wouldn't you want the car keys? And if you were the Red Sox owners and you had the car keys, as well as a World Series trophy, would you really be that willing to give up final say on every move?

Three weeks ago, I went on Mike Felger's ESPN Radio show in Boston and predicted that Theo would leave. They thought I was crazy. I gave them my whole Car Keys theory as an explanation. They still thought I was crazy. In last week's football picks column, I finally had a chance to write something about it, so I stuck a non-NFL pick in there that looked like this:

Theo Epstein (+11) LARRY LUCCHINO
In the following paragraph, I explained the same Car Keys theory from Felger's show. And as late as Thursday night, it was still in the column. But before I sent it in to my editors, I checked Friday's Boston Globe (which comes online around midnight) to make sure there was nothing about Theo's situation in there. Just my luck, there was a story about how Theo's contract was in the process of getting done. Oh, well. I yanked the section.

And there's a reason I'm telling you this -- Theo's "surprise" departure didn't come out of left field (as so many people seem to think), and it certainly wasn't difficult to anticipate or predict. Just eight years ago, a similar power struggle unfolded between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Bill Parcells, and that ended infinitely worse than this one. In the case of Theo-Lucchino, the writing was on the wall. One guy loves going on radio and TV shows, the other guy hated it. One guy loves the power rush of running a team, the other guy just liked making baseball moves. One guy loved getting credit, the other guy didn't care. But both guys wanted the car keys. And there was no way this could ever be truly resolved without one of them leaving.

Here's what I love about Theo (and why his stock rose with me for life): Not everyone would have the stones to walk away from their dream job. Putting myself in his shoes, my dream job would be running the Boston Celtics … and I'm pretty sure I could have done better than some of the bozos of the last 15 years. If I spent my entire life working towards that chance, and then I got it, only one scenario would make me give that up -- if I couldn't stand working for my owners and felt like they were constantly second-guessing and undermining me, and the situation deteriorated to the point that my quality of life was being compromised. Even then, I'm not sure I would walk away.

Well, Theo walked away.

When Dan Shaughnessy published his hideous mentor-protégé column in Sunday's Boston Globe -- a column covered in Lucchino's fingerprints that made Theo come off like an ungrateful, disloyal, incompetent jerk -- Theo decided to change his mind about staying with the team. How could he work for people that he didn't trust, people who would wait until both sides had agreed to terms before leaking a "Now take this!" column that was clearly meant to put him in his place. Imagine being Theo, waking up on a Sunday morning and seeing that slanted crap in your local paper -- a house organ with ownership ties to the Red Sox, no less? How could you come back to the team and live with yourself? They underestimated his character, his resolve and his willingness to walk away from the only job he ever wanted. At least he left with his dignity.

(And just for the record, I don't believe any of this "Boston was too crazy, he wanted a normal life again" stuff that some people are theorizing, including our own Peter Gammons. That seems like one of those "It's not you, it's me" rationalizations that you would make up when you dump your overbearing girlfriend. What was Theo supposed to do, burn his bridges on the way out and say what obviously happened -- that his former mentor, as well as the two other owners who gave him a chance, basically drove him crazy enough to walk away from his dream job? The truth will come out. That's all I'm saying. There have been whispers about major problems with the Lucchino-Epstein relationship for far too long. Just wait.)

As for the Red Sox, they have shamed themselves beyond belief, with the Shaughnessy column being the final straw. The same guys who brought Boston a World Series also formed an Orwellian media conglomerate in which they control all the information in the city's most important newspaper, as well as the TV and radio stations that carry the games. Just about every Red Sox-related scoop is directed to one of those three outlets, with Boston Herald writers repeatedly complaining about the unfairness of it all. In particular, the Epstein coverage was appallingly one-sided from the Globe's side -- culminating in Shaughnessy's incredible column, to the point that Red Sox fans have to question the credibility of anything they read in what used to be a sports section that meant something. It was telling that, on the same day that Theo announced his resignation, Monday's Globe contained a story reporting that he had signed for three years.

Call me crazy, but I believe this is a bigger story than Theo Epstein leaving the Red Sox -- an unprecedented situation where a sports franchise controls the local coverage of itself, to some degree, in every possible medium. During the A-Rod debacle in the winter of 2003 -- when Lucchino clashed with Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks to the point that John Henry had to remove Lucchino from the trade talks and the Red Sox took a "Screw Hicks, we'll wait until the price tag drops in spring training" position, never imagining that the Yankees could get involved -- Lucchino received a curious amount of leeway from a local media that normally jumps on that stuff (including from the routinely vicious "Dennis and Callahan" show, where Lucchino has a weekly segment). Over these past few weeks, when the team was clearly lowballing Theo financially and acting like he was expendable to a degree, only the Boston Herald and Providence Journal were critical. More than anything else, I think that skewed situation led to young Theo fleeing the coop.

There's one other factor here, and I guarantee it's playing a bigger role than just about anyone can understand …

When you dream about doing something for a long time, and then it happens, it's never actually as good as you think it would be. There's almost a surreal letdown of sorts after the fact. And it's impossible to explain unless it's happened to you. For instance, ever since I was in college, I dreamed of having my own sports column and covering a Boston team when they won a championship. That's all I wanted. In the spring of 2001, ESPN found me. Nine months later, my beloved Patriots went to the Super Bowl and shocked the Rams in New Orleans. I wrote about it every day, and on the morning after they won, my column ran on the front page of this Web site. Greatest professional moment of my life, right?

Well, something weird happened. After that game, I couldn't stop thinking, "All right, what happens now? What do I do? How can I top my dream moment?"

And the thing is, you can't. The moment happens, it ends, you celebrate and feel good about yourself … and then it's on to the next day, and you have to figure out what the next challenge is, and deep down, you're wondering why you didn't enjoy that watershed moment more than you thought you would. I don't know Theo, I have never met him, and the experience of being the general manager of the first Red Sox championship in 86 years was roughly 100,000,000 times more profound and important than my experience in New Orleans. But the fact remains, after that Super Bowl column, I struggled writing this column for the next seven to eight months; eventually, I ended up moving to California to write for a fledgling late-night television show. That Super Bowl trip changed everything for me.

Did something similar happen to Theo after winning the World Series? Is this what happened to David Caruso when he said, "Screw it, I don't need 'NYPD Blue' anymore?" On a much, much larger scale, is this what happened to talents like Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jordan and everyone else who either walked away from their alleged dream job or sabotaged it in their prime? Is that why the Peggy Lee song "Is that all there is?" rings especially true in moments like these?

Right now, I don't have an answer for you. But since I failed to get my previous "car keys" prediction down on paper, allow me to make another one for you: I see Theo taking the year off. I see him going into relative hiding, growing some sort of goofy facial hair like a fu manchu, maybe even growing his flattop out. I see him refusing just about every interview, laying low, maybe doing some consultant work for Josh Byrnes in Arizona. I see him moving out of the city to salvage what's left of his privacy. Hell, he may even have a crappy music album in him.

And a year from now, maybe two, he'll come back to baseball refreshed and recharged, armed with enough savvy to avoid another front-office quagmire like the one in Boston. Maybe it won't be his dream job, but that's the thing about dreams -- sometimes they come true, and sometimes you have to deal with the consequences and figure out what's really important to you.

Something tells me that Theo hasn't figured this out yet. I hope he does. Overrated or not, he still goes down as the guy who brought the Red Sox their first World Series title in 86 years. And after something that monumental, maybe you need a couple of years to come up with the right encore. To be continued.
 
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And this from a Boston-neutral ESPN reporter.

By Sean McAdam
Special to ESPN.com

A little more than a year ago, Larry Lucchino and Theo Epstein were drenched in champagne, celebrating the Red Sox's first world championship in 86 years.

On Monday, they were parting ways, unable to come to terms on a contract extension for Epstein, leaving behind a decimated front office just as a busy offseason looms.

What happened? How did it fall apart so fast for the Red Sox?

It wasn't as if Lucchino and Epstein were unfamiliar with one another. To the contrary, their relationship goes back more than a dozen years, when Lucchino hired Epstein as an intern with the Baltimore Orioles.

They teamed together in San Diego, too, when Lucchino was the Padres' CEO. And when Lucchino was paired with the John Henry-Tom Werner ownership group in Boston, Epstein soon followed.

Under Lucchino, Epstein became the youngest GM in the history of the game, and when the Red Sox ended their championship drought in 2004, Epstein cemented his place among the game's best young executives.

But talks regarding a new contract extension never gained much traction. When Epstein broached the subject in spring training, he was told to wait. And when the Red Sox made their first overtures, the offer represented only a modest raise over his 2005 salary of $550,000.

From the Red Sox's perspective, the initial proposals to Epstein were in line with what other general managers with similar levels of experience were earning. But for Epstein, Boston ownership's offer to Billy Beane in 2002 -- weeks before Epstein was hired -- was the benchmark.

Beane was offered $12.5 million over five years, and for a period of 24 hours, accepted. That was easily the most money ever given to a major-league GM.

Epstein wondered why -- after three straight trips to the postseason, a world championship and a rebuilt minor-league system brimming with prospects -- he couldn't earn half of the amount given to Beane.

In part, it may have been because it was difficult for Lucchino to view Epstein as anything other than his protege. But when Epstein dug in his heels and Henry entered the picture last week, the team's hard-line negotiating stance softened some.

A week ago, Epstein laid out his demands: A three-year deal worth $1.5 million annually. With logical successor Josh Byrnes having left to accept the general manager's vacancy in Arizona, it was the Red Sox who had lost some leverage.

By the end of the week, they met Epstein's terms, and when everyone left the office, the thought was a deal could be finalized Monday, the same day on which Epstein's original three-year deal was to expire at midnight.

But over the course of the negotiations, a rift had developed between Lucchino and Epstein. Both sides wondered if it could be repaired.

Toward that end, they met several times at the end of the week, attempting to repair the relationship. Despite persistent -- and inaccurate -- media reports that suggested Epstein wanted to bypass Lucchino and report directly to Henry in the Red Sox hierarchy, chain of command issues were never central to the disagreements.

Rather, Lucchino and Epstein had a number of philosophical differences. And over the weekend, those were made worse.

A column in the Boston Globe Sunday, which Epstein deduced had been leaked by Lucchino or others on the CEO's staff, intimated that the general manager had been at fault when a proposed multi-player deal with the Colorado Rockies fell through at the trade deadline this season.

(In truth, ownership made Epstein cancel the agreed-upon deal, though Lucchino reportedly later blamed the mess on Byrnes in talks with Rockies ownership.)

The column further stated that Lucchino had accepted public blame for the fallout to spare his general manager further embarrassment.

This incensed Epstein, and along with other anecdotal evidence, caused him to reconsider working under Lucchino for another three seasons. By late morning Monday, he had made up his mind: His tenure with the Red Sox was over.
 

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AZZenny said:
Interesting stuff from The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. Now this guy is a fine writer, a lifelong Red Sox fan, and NOT an insider. After saying he felt Theo was mildly overrated - needed more time to prove himself rather than maybe really chalking a lot up to serendipity - and also giving Theo kudos for a number of really brilliant decisions as well:

Why the hell would Theo leave?

I had a feeling this could happen right after the White Sox series, as soon as I started hearing whispers from semi-connected people back home that the relationship between Theo and minority owner Larry Lucchino was much more complicated than anyone imagined. There were rumors about a squashed Manny trade, as well as some second-guessing from the higher-ups, with the biggest problem being that Lucchino (an infamous attention hog) seemed to be bristling from the attention that Theo was receiving.

Don't forget, when this current ownership group bought the team, John Henry and Tom Werner were the money guys, and Lucchino was given a minority stake in return for three things: (1) He would run the day-to-day operations of the franchise; (2) he would handle revamping Fenway Park and derive as much income as possible from the team's revenue sources (the surrounding streets around the park, the team's cable station, advertising inside the park and so on); and (3) he would have a certain amount of control over the team's baseball decisions. In retrospect, Lucchino was a genius -- because Henry was a private man and Tom Werner had been burned by his experience in San Diego, Lucchino convinced them to make him a de facto co-owner (as well as the visible one) without assuming nearly the same financial burden.

So when he watched Theo's stock continue to rise (Lucchino's protégé, by the way), you could see this collision coming a mile away. Put yourself in Theo's shoes -- he wins the World Series and achieves his lifelong dream, he's a demigod in Boston, he's a hot commodity in baseball … and not only is he wildly underpaid, he's still answering to someone who considers himself Theo's mentor, as well as someone who routinely second-guessed and even squashed some of his moves. How was that a good situation? At some point, if you were Theo Epstein, wouldn't you want the car keys? And if you were the Red Sox owners and you had the car keys, as well as a World Series trophy, would you really be that willing to give up final say on every move?

Three weeks ago, I went on Mike Felger's ESPN Radio show in Boston and predicted that Theo would leave. They thought I was crazy. I gave them my whole Car Keys theory as an explanation. They still thought I was crazy. In last week's football picks column, I finally had a chance to write something about it, so I stuck a non-NFL pick in there that looked like this:

Theo Epstein (+11) LARRY LUCCHINO
In the following paragraph, I explained the same Car Keys theory from Felger's show. And as late as Thursday night, it was still in the column. But before I sent it in to my editors, I checked Friday's Boston Globe (which comes online around midnight) to make sure there was nothing about Theo's situation in there. Just my luck, there was a story about how Theo's contract was in the process of getting done. Oh, well. I yanked the section.

And there's a reason I'm telling you this -- Theo's "surprise" departure didn't come out of left field (as so many people seem to think), and it certainly wasn't difficult to anticipate or predict. Just eight years ago, a similar power struggle unfolded between Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Bill Parcells, and that ended infinitely worse than this one. In the case of Theo-Lucchino, the writing was on the wall. One guy loves going on radio and TV shows, the other guy hated it. One guy loves the power rush of running a team, the other guy just liked making baseball moves. One guy loved getting credit, the other guy didn't care. But both guys wanted the car keys. And there was no way this could ever be truly resolved without one of them leaving.

Here's what I love about Theo (and why his stock rose with me for life): Not everyone would have the stones to walk away from their dream job. Putting myself in his shoes, my dream job would be running the Boston Celtics … and I'm pretty sure I could have done better than some of the bozos of the last 15 years. If I spent my entire life working towards that chance, and then I got it, only one scenario would make me give that up -- if I couldn't stand working for my owners and felt like they were constantly second-guessing and undermining me, and the situation deteriorated to the point that my quality of life was being compromised. Even then, I'm not sure I would walk away.

Well, Theo walked away.

When Dan Shaughnessy published his hideous mentor-protégé column in Sunday's Boston Globe -- a column covered in Lucchino's fingerprints that made Theo come off like an ungrateful, disloyal, incompetent jerk -- Theo decided to change his mind about staying with the team. How could he work for people that he didn't trust, people who would wait until both sides had agreed to terms before leaking a "Now take this!" column that was clearly meant to put him in his place. Imagine being Theo, waking up on a Sunday morning and seeing that slanted crap in your local paper -- a house organ with ownership ties to the Red Sox, no less? How could you come back to the team and live with yourself? They underestimated his character, his resolve and his willingness to walk away from the only job he ever wanted. At least he left with his dignity.

(And just for the record, I don't believe any of this "Boston was too crazy, he wanted a normal life again" stuff that some people are theorizing, including our own Peter Gammons. That seems like one of those "It's not you, it's me" rationalizations that you would make up when you dump your overbearing girlfriend. What was Theo supposed to do, burn his bridges on the way out and say what obviously happened -- that his former mentor, as well as the two other owners who gave him a chance, basically drove him crazy enough to walk away from his dream job? The truth will come out. That's all I'm saying. There have been whispers about major problems with the Lucchino-Epstein relationship for far too long. Just wait.)

As for the Red Sox, they have shamed themselves beyond belief, with the Shaughnessy column being the final straw. The same guys who brought Boston a World Series also formed an Orwellian media conglomerate in which they control all the information in the city's most important newspaper, as well as the TV and radio stations that carry the games. Just about every Red Sox-related scoop is directed to one of those three outlets, with Boston Herald writers repeatedly complaining about the unfairness of it all. In particular, the Epstein coverage was appallingly one-sided from the Globe's side -- culminating in Shaughnessy's incredible column, to the point that Red Sox fans have to question the credibility of anything they read in what used to be a sports section that meant something. It was telling that, on the same day that Theo announced his resignation, Monday's Globe contained a story reporting that he had signed for three years.

Call me crazy, but I believe this is a bigger story than Theo Epstein leaving the Red Sox -- an unprecedented situation where a sports franchise controls the local coverage of itself, to some degree, in every possible medium. During the A-Rod debacle in the winter of 2003 -- when Lucchino clashed with Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks to the point that John Henry had to remove Lucchino from the trade talks and the Red Sox took a "Screw Hicks, we'll wait until the price tag drops in spring training" position, never imagining that the Yankees could get involved -- Lucchino received a curious amount of leeway from a local media that normally jumps on that stuff (including from the routinely vicious "Dennis and Callahan" show, where Lucchino has a weekly segment). Over these past few weeks, when the team was clearly lowballing Theo financially and acting like he was expendable to a degree, only the Boston Herald and Providence Journal were critical. More than anything else, I think that skewed situation led to young Theo fleeing the coop.

There's one other factor here, and I guarantee it's playing a bigger role than just about anyone can understand …

When you dream about doing something for a long time, and then it happens, it's never actually as good as you think it would be. There's almost a surreal letdown of sorts after the fact. And it's impossible to explain unless it's happened to you. For instance, ever since I was in college, I dreamed of having my own sports column and covering a Boston team when they won a championship. That's all I wanted. In the spring of 2001, ESPN found me. Nine months later, my beloved Patriots went to the Super Bowl and shocked the Rams in New Orleans. I wrote about it every day, and on the morning after they won, my column ran on the front page of this Web site. Greatest professional moment of my life, right?

Well, something weird happened. After that game, I couldn't stop thinking, "All right, what happens now? What do I do? How can I top my dream moment?"

And the thing is, you can't. The moment happens, it ends, you celebrate and feel good about yourself … and then it's on to the next day, and you have to figure out what the next challenge is, and deep down, you're wondering why you didn't enjoy that watershed moment more than you thought you would. I don't know Theo, I have never met him, and the experience of being the general manager of the first Red Sox championship in 86 years was roughly 100,000,000 times more profound and important than my experience in New Orleans. But the fact remains, after that Super Bowl column, I struggled writing this column for the next seven to eight months; eventually, I ended up moving to California to write for a fledgling late-night television show. That Super Bowl trip changed everything for me.

Did something similar happen to Theo after winning the World Series? Is this what happened to David Caruso when he said, "Screw it, I don't need 'NYPD Blue' anymore?" On a much, much larger scale, is this what happened to talents like Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy, Kurt Cobain, Michael Jordan and everyone else who either walked away from their alleged dream job or sabotaged it in their prime? Is that why the Peggy Lee song "Is that all there is?" rings especially true in moments like these?

Right now, I don't have an answer for you. But since I failed to get my previous "car keys" prediction down on paper, allow me to make another one for you: I see Theo taking the year off. I see him going into relative hiding, growing some sort of goofy facial hair like a fu manchu, maybe even growing his flattop out. I see him refusing just about every interview, laying low, maybe doing some consultant work for Josh Byrnes in Arizona. I see him moving out of the city to salvage what's left of his privacy. Hell, he may even have a crappy music album in him.

And a year from now, maybe two, he'll come back to baseball refreshed and recharged, armed with enough savvy to avoid another front-office quagmire like the one in Boston. Maybe it won't be his dream job, but that's the thing about dreams -- sometimes they come true, and sometimes you have to deal with the consequences and figure out what's really important to you.

Something tells me that Theo hasn't figured this out yet. I hope he does. Overrated or not, he still goes down as the guy who brought the Red Sox their first World Series title in 86 years. And after something that monumental, maybe you need a couple of years to come up with the right encore. To be continued.

:thumbup: That will work Zenny. Simmons might be my favorite sports writer...period.

Hes not by the book by any stretch but i look forward to his articles moreso than anyone else's
 

UncleChris

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AZZenny said:
I don't think I'm alone in regarding Gammons as a hack. He is of the 'print enough rumors/make enough stuff up and throw it out and something has to stick and then you look brilliant' school of journalism. This I have from a baseball insider at a high level.
Likewise Bob Nightengale.

Now Tim Kurkjian? If he says it, it's pretty solid.

100% agree. Gammons is a hack for exactly the reasons zenny says. :thumbup:
 

AZZenny

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Jim Caple is a pretty decent writer, too. This is amusing. Kernel of truth, I'd imagine.

LOOKING FOR St. THEO
By Jim Caple

The saddest part of St. Theo leaving the Red Sox? Had he only made his decision just a few hours earlier, he would have been available for a Supreme Court nomination.

Or, had Theo made the decision just a week earlier, he could have been named Alan Greenspan's replacement at the Federal Reserve. Or better, had he made the decision during spring training, the College of Cardinals could have elected him Pope. Or, based on the breathless tributes, he could have taken any other similarly high post befitting someone who has been a baseball general manager for almost three whole years.

It's hard to know for sure, because of the way the mainstream media, talk radio and blogosphere have buried this story, but Epstein apparently left the Red Sox because he didn't always see eye-to-eye with team president Larry Lucchino. This is a startling development, of course, because it makes him the first person in history who did not get along with his boss.

And who can blame him? After all, Lucchino only hired Epstein a decade ago, then made him the game's youngest general manager, then gave him the second-largest budget in baseball to work with, and then offered him a $4.5 million contract to stay. The gall! Imagine working for such an ogre. That is so much worse than what Brian Cashman or Terry Ryan ever have to deal with.

Yes, his departure is sad but at least we're finally learning the true story behind the Red Sox's success. For a long time, I was under the impression it was David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez who hit all those home runs, and Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez who pitched all the games, and Jason Varitek who caught all those pitches. But now I understand that it was all Theo. And he's leaving! No wonder Red Sox Nation is grieving!

There has so much wild speculation about his next career that we're led to believe Theo is currently deciding whether to make millions on Wall Street, run for Congress or join the Peace Corps and dig wells in Sudan.

In other words, the Theo tributes have gotten a little thick. Just once, I would love to read speculation that doesn't include the man curing cancer or ridding the world of e-mail spam.

Theo's initial plans are to spend April and May doing something he's always dreamed of experiencing but never could while he was in baseball: Clubbing baby seals at the annual harvest in Newfoundland. It's startling but true. The rivalry with the Yankees only whet his appetite for bloodlust. This time he wants to get out of his padded seat and participate. Get right in there with the clubs and the blood and the pelts. It will be like playing the Devil Rays.

Following that, he'll spend the summer touring as a roadie with Motley Crue. He wants to wear spandex and take whiskey/heroin enemas and screw five women a night and fall asleep in his own vomit and use a hypodermic needle full of adrenaline as an alarm clock. Then again, don't we all?

After that, he plans to take a consulting job with Exxon. You think their profits are obscene now? By the time Theo is through, they'll be making so much money they'll have to send their annual reports out in a brown wrapper. And after he's gotten the oil industry back on track, he'll take over his dream job: CEO of Halliburton.

Naturally, he'll still find time for his role as spokesperson for the tobacco industry.


Does all that seem a little ridiculous, a little over the top? Perhaps, but not much more outlandish than some of the St. Theo hyperbole. I'm not sure whether Red Sox fans want Theo rehired or canonized.

Five days into the Post-Theo Era, I suggest everyone drink a nice big glass of Calm Down.

Yes, Theo is an intelligent guy who did an excellent job as the general manager and he can probably do many other things very well in life. But he still was a baseball general manager for crying out loud, not the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, the director of Habitat for Humanity or the guy who developed Google. I mean, White Sox general manager Kenny Williams just accomplished the exact same thing as Theo and with a much smaller payroll. And I don't see anyone anointing Williams as an irreplaceable genius. :thumbup:

Personally, I agree with a friend who thinks Epstein was simply smart enough to get out while he was still revered. With a questionable pitching staff, yet another Manny trade demand ("And this time I really mean it!") and a probable team makeover that does not involve Carson Kressley, the likeliest short-term direction for the Red Sox is down. Perhaps Theo shrewdly decided to leave now as a saint rather than wait until talk radio started complaining that he was a moron.

Either that, or the Jon Daniels hiring in Texas made him feel really old.
 
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