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 Theo Epstein It is now January 22, barely 22 days till pitchers and catchers, and still the Red Sox do not have a shortstop or a center fielder and have questions about closer Keith Foulke. But fret not Red Sox Nation, Theo Epstein is back on board, 80 days after sneaking out of his Yawkey Way office in a gorilla suit on Halloween night, and if you believe team owner John Henry, there is no closer-knit front office in all of baseball. It is, of course, a lot of hooey. They can spin it any way they want - and from the looks of it, hip boots will be advised attire for all those attending next week's press conference to announce the details of the "full-time baseball operations" position Epstein is returning to - but the Red Sox have operated in chaos all winter. Certainly, it has not been fair to Theo's assistants, Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, who were named co-GMs in the wake of a half-hearted and fruitless interview process to find a suitable successor. Theo somehow got credit for the Josh Beckett deal with Florida that was completed shortly after his much-decried departure, while everything after that - the curious trade of Edgar Renteria with no shortstop replacement in sight; the botched Johnny Damon negotiations, the failure to trade David Wells - was chalked up to the inexperience of Hoyer and Cherington. In the meantime, CEO Larry Lucchino gets even more bloodied in this Theo soap opera. Again, Henry can say all he wants about there being no ill feelings between Theo and his mentor, Lucchino, or that "in no way" does Theo's return usurp Lucchino's power, but that isn't the way it's playing for the rest of baseball. For one thing, Theo's return almost guarantees the departure of Lucchino's righthand man, VP of Public Affairs Charles Steinberg, with whom Epstein has warred privately. As one baseball official who knows Lucchino well put it: "I don't know how Larry stays there now. He's a proud guy with a big ego and this has clearly been a power struggle that Theo is winning. The problem is Theo thinks he's a rock star in Boston - and John Henry has merely magnified that by slobbering over him the way he has - while Larry's a very convenient villain. It would not surprise me at all to see Larry end up in Washington as CEO for the new ownership there. It wouldn't have to happen tomorrow. There's plenty of time." Those close to Lucchino insist he's really happy in Boston and that his family doesn't want to move again. But there's no getting around the fact he wanted to hire his own GM to replace Theo, only to have Henry step in and tell him to call off the search. Now we know why. The one saving grace for the Red Sox in this otherwise disastrous offseason is the starting pitching - Beckett, Curt Schilling, Bronson Arroyo, rookie Jonathan Papelbon, Tim Wakefield, Matt Clement and (for the time being) Wells - is potentially the deepest, quality-wise in the AL East. Still no center fielder. Or shortstop. Or proven, healthy closer. Such is the residue of a front office being run by committee with a shadow/de facto GM who never really left the building. |