Adios Theo Epstein, Welcome Ben Cherington

I spent a good portion of my afternoon watching Theo Epstein's introductory press conference with the Chicago Cubs as president of baseball operations and Ben Cherington's first press conference as Boston Red Sox executive vice president/GM. Since I will never get that time back, I'll share some of my initial thoughts.

The Cubs are MLB's biggest joke of a franchise, a team that has been nothing but losers for virtually all of its existence, especially in the modern era. That's why I understand how Theo has received the amount of savior slurping that has already happened in the Windy City. Epstein doesn't have to get his hands dirty as much, he'll make more money and he faces a whole new set of challenges. What isn't to like? Sure, the Cubs might never do anything under his tenure but will most of their drunken fans even notice? I say no.

With Cherington, I worry that he'll be more of the status quo at Yawkey Way. He's worked so closely with Theo for years so who's to say he's really developed his own unique ideas and thoughts? Obviously, he's a very smart and qualified guy but let's not tip toe around the fact that Epstein left this franchise in bad shape: the formerly vaunted Red Sox farm system is almost completely depleted, the major league roster is full of bloated contracts (and players) and pretty much all of the true fans are sick and tired of this ownership group (Warner, Lucchino, Henry). Shoutout to Warner and Henry for not bothering to show up today. Ugh.

Truly the best news to come out of today was that John Lackey will have Tommy John surgery, meaning that piece of trash will miss the entire 2012 season. Fingers crossed that he along with Dice-K never throw another pitch for the Red Sox. That's a start.

Boston was always a baseball town but that has changed in the last few third-place seasons by the Red Sox. The Bruins won a Stanley Cup, the Patriots are always contenders and we use to have an NBA team around here, I forget their name. Now the Red Sox have to fight for fans' attention and not simply bank on the eternal heartbreak that made everything seem so important. I know I'm not the only one that doesn't really enjoy going to Fenway Park anymore which is something I never would have thought (five or ten years ago) that I would say in my life.

As Michael Felger and Tony Massarotti have said, Fenway is a theme park. You go, pay exorbitant prices, take some pictures, sing Sweet Caroline and at the end of the game, far too many people don't really care if the Red Sox have even won or lost. Not to mention getting in and out of the park is a pain with parking and public transportation being about as difficult as possible.

Stop trying to make every last cent on the team through merchandise, useless shit (Fenway bricks) and crappy concerts (Dropkick Murphys, Neil Diamond) that nobody cares about. If the ownership group go back to caring about winning over everything, the fans and passion will return. If not, it's just going to be more of the same bullshit that has permeated through this organization since 2008.

PS. The Red Sox still need a manager and thanks to MLB's snail pace, the compensation package for Epstein hasn't been settled. Thanks Bud, you useless clown.

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Hey Look, Some Good News About The 2011 Boston Red Sox

Right now, the Boston Red Sox deserve all the negative press and publicity that they're getting. From clueless owners, an enabling former GM and former manager down to the despicable players, they are about as unlikable as I can ever remember in my lifetime.

However, we'll take a quick second to fete one of the few non-toxic players from the infamous 2011 squad. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury received the American League comeback player of the year award today along with Lance Berkman for the National League.

Other than Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon (let's remember he was in a contract year) and Alfredo Aceves, Ellsbury was one of the only team members to not look so bad in yesterday's expose in the Boston Globe by Bob Hohler. If anything, you felt bad for Ells as Jed Lowrie is supposedly the only other guy on the team that he's close too (must be an Oregon thing).

After a nightmarish 2010 when he only played 18 games due to rib injuries ("front and back"), Ellsbury bounced back in a bigger way than I think anybody, even a pink hat, could have ever dreamed in 2011. In his fifth MLB season, the 28-year-old Oregon State product hit .321 with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs, 119 runs, 46 doubles, 5 triples and 39 stolen bases in 158 games and 660 at-bats. His 364 total bases and 83 extra-base hits led MLB.

He was also the first leadoff hitter in Red Sox history to get 30 homers and 100 RBIs in the same season while also becoming the franchise's first 30-30 player (homers, stolen bases). His plate discipline was way better too with a .376 OBP and .552 slugging percentage.

Using all his unique skills including Gold Glove caliber defense, he's become one of the most electrifying and talented players in MLB. I'm extremely bias but I believe that he should be picking up some much bigger hardware in a few weeks as AL MVP. Along those lines, Boston has to do everything in its power to lock him down long-term since coupled with Pedroia, he should be the face of the team for the next decade.

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Theo Epstein Takes His Talents To Wrigleyville, Leaving Fenway In Smoldering Ashes

As soon as I heard the first rumors in August of Red Sox GM Theo Epstein heading to the Chicago Cubs, I've only had one reaction: it makes too much sense for him to pass it up.

He can swoop in once again and save a team that has a cartoonish "curse." Hell, if Dan Shaughnessy isn't there within the next year and writing his next book "The Curse of Steve Bartman," capitalizing on the only subject matter he ever cared about, I'd be shocked.

Well it looks like thanks to the worst September collapse in franchise history (7-20) and meddling owners that don't know what they're doing anymore (besides trying to get every last cent from fans), the Brookline native Epstein has decided to ditch Yawkey Way for Wrigleyville and I say good for him.

Since being hired in 2002 at age 28 (the youngest GM in MLB history), Theo has lived a charmed life doing his dream job, albeit under an insane amount of pressure and scrutiny (granted that comes with the territory). The Red Sox broke their 86 years of futility by winning the 2004 World Series (with a big assist to former GM Dan Duquette) and they won again in 2007 which was much more of Theo's doing. Still, after missing out on the playoffs the last two seasons (and finishing in third in the AL East both times), coupled with not having a postseason win since 2008 despite one of the highest payrolls in MLB, it was time for Epstein to make a move.

The Cubs reportedly have signed Theo to a five-year, $15 million dollar deal for him to join the team according to Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman, with a $3.5 million dollar transfer bonus. As part of the package, Chicago has to send prospects and or cash to Boston, not major league players. I'm sure it'll take some time for all the formalities to sort themselves out but this is a done deal as far as I'm concerned.

I'm sure he'll get a higher rank than GM/executive vice president like the one he carried in Boston. He has to have aspirations to be president of a team but Larry Lucchino had always blocked his way with the Red Sox to do that.

Chicago hasn't been in the World Series since 1945 and as everyone knows, they haven't won a World Series title since 1908. Going there presents Theo with a whole new challenge, it was clear through all his free agent misses that last few seasons particularly that there wasn't much left for him to do here. The boy wonder had outgrown his formerly pathetic team.

Personally, it couldn't come at a better time for Epstein since the Red Sox are as much a mess as they've ever been in the last decade thanks to them forcing out manager Terry Francona two weeks ago (and launching their latest undeserved smear campaign) along with being stuck with an extremely dysfunctional and unlikable group of players.

Good luck to Ben Cherington, the assistant GM weaned under Theo, who will likely take over for his former mentor. The Red Sox have to rebuild the farm system that was so instrumental in bringing them their second title. They have no prospects anymore like they used to and even worse, they've made so many mistakes in free agency since 2004. Letting a computer (hi Carmine) use sabermetrics to make important decisions was groundbreaking but it has to be counterbalanced by old fashioned scouting and baseball knowledge.

Having the most money or getting the flashiest free agents doesn't guarantee anything, just look at the four remaining teams (Detroit, Texas, Milwaukee, St. Louis) in the playoffs, they're all middle of the road payrolls that have spent money wisely and orchestrated great trades. It also shows that there are good baseball teams outside of the ones in the East (Red Sox, Yankees, Phillies) that get all the attention from the national media.

Big picture, the best we can hope for is that the Red Sox owners (Tom Warner and John Henry) along with Lucchino pack their bags and decide they've gotten enough out of this investment. Unfortunately, that's unlikely anytime soon.

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