Comments on: Report: Theo Epstein agrees to a five-year deal with the Cubs

By: jdd428

jdd428 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:50:36 +0000

Chris, I guarantee you Theo would say yes to taking Crawford with him to the Northside in a heartbeat. You can’t judge him or his contract based on ONE SEASON.

Yes Crawford’s was a disappointment, but it was also an anomaly. Theo would probably take Beckett too. Lackey, not so much. But those other two are good players, 2011 results notwithstanding.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:42:04 +0000

“But if Crawford has a huge season next year, then it was a great deal again.”

And, if comes back with another year like this the Crawford signing will make the Chone Figgins signing look like a bargin.

By: cba456

cba456 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:34:03 +0000

As a red sox fan, I’m thankful for all he did, but i’m not too upset to see him go. And I understand Epstein wanting to leave – I need a new job every 5-7 years too. But the organization they (Epstein and the ownership group) built is good, and can weather the loss of one guy. They’ve had lots of high profile departures from the front office, and still kept on winning. I’m sure Cherrington will be fine. The interesting question to me will be how many people Theo takes with him. It will tell us (1) how much continuity remains in the front office and (2) how much the front office people believe in him vs how much they believe in the management philosophy of the ownership.

Also – kind of interesting that the Red Sox let him out of the last year of his contract. I understand not wanting a guy who doesn’t want to be there calling the shots, but if a player signed to a team-friendly contract wanted to opt out of his contract early, there would be no way the team would let him. And he would be crucified by the media and fans. Another example of, despite how much money players get, all the power lies with management.

By: mgp1219

mgp1219 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:35:04 +0000

Amen to that!

By: mgp1219

mgp1219 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:32:08 +0000

Will Theo be bringing Carmine with him, or are the redsox keeping her?

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:13:49 +0000

paper, the same article written by people who picked the Red Sox to win the World Series this year? LOL. Seriously, I know that many Red Sox fans HATED the Lackey signing. I don’t know a single Red Sox fans who like Lackey and his 4+ career ERA. He didn’t have the prerequisite one good year that even AJ Burnett had. You want to make the case for Crawford, OK, I’ll give you him. That was a great signing at the time, and it fizzled. Shit, if Crawford is only 20-30 points below his career averages instead of 38/44/36/80, we are probably looking at a Red Sox-Rangers ALCS right now. Nobody I read or nobody I know expected him to suck so bad this season. I’m no fan of the stat, but it is telling that his WAR(b-ref) went from 6.1 in 2010…to ZERO POINT ZERO in 2011. Ouch.

By: bobinnh85

bobinnh85 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:01:39 +0000

Amen to that, I’m glad to see somebody agrees with me, all we heard this past winter was what a powerful team we would have this year. The Sox were the pick to go all the way, good insight klbader.

By: acemccracken

acemccracken — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:58:50 +0000

No, you are wrong. $16m a year for a pitcher with a career era over 4 is NEVER a good signing.

By: marshmallowsnake

marshmallowsnake — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:49:45 +0000

Kopy, I think you are right…but I think he and his staff have to do some work on their evaluation process.

By: marshmallowsnake

marshmallowsnake — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:47:09 +0000

First signing…John Lackey for $82.5 Million….oh, wait….

By: paperlions

paperlions — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:43:21 +0000

Do a search Chris, there are dozens of “best signings” articles that list lackey at or near the top.

By: jeffro33

jeffro33 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:36:07 +0000

I give Theo a ton of respect for the 2 WS titles Boston won while he was GM…

However, I think it is pretty fair to say that any one of us making comments here could do just as well as Theo has done over the last couple of years given the resources that he has to work with…

Aside from overseeing a scouting department perhaps…

By: joshshaine

joshshaine — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:32:10 +0000

Thank you, Theo, for a bunch of fun years and the most success this franchise has known since before the League of Nations.

2004 and 2007 will forever keep you in this fan’s thoughts and memories. I hope you help to bring relief to the Cubbies’ fans as well.

I will wonder if, with a slightly different twist and slightly more successful season, you might have stayed, but I doubt it – the challenge of the Cubs and 1908 had to be more than you could resist.

The lingering question for me is… who’s next? Indians? Nationals?

Whichever, good luck with the Cubs!

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:31:58 +0000

paper, the Lackey deal was widely panned as being too much money for a guy who was vastly overrated. I know many Red Sox fans who called it a signing as bad as the AJ Burnett signing..and this was the time it happened. The Beckett extension was also very widely panned, especially since Beckett started the year injured. He bounced back this year, so it isn’t as terrible as it would have been had he sucked again this year, but don’t try to make the Beckett extension out to be more than it was.

Crawford was hailed as a good deal, and he sucked year 1. Maybe he turns it around and maybe he doesn’t. Still, I’m willing to bet if you asked Theo if he would want to take Beckett, Lackey and Crawford with him to Chicago, his answer would be No, No, and No.

By: acheron2112

acheron2112 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:00:38 +0000

I don’t remember anybody who “loved” the Lackey signing at the time.

As far as Crawford, I think the general consensus was that it was an overly large contract, but you’re right that I don’t think anyone was concerned about the start of it, just the end.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:50:49 +0000

They’ve also made some extremely questionable picks recently….don’t remember his name, but they took some pitcher in the top 10 that no other team or scout even thought was worth a sandwich-round pick….and he since has not proven the cubs right…that kind of error in judgement is huge.

….and not for nothing, the difference between the Cardinal system now, and what it was like when Jocketty was in charge of it is night and day….even with trading away a lot of talent to pick up vets at or after the trade deadline, they have guys at all levels that are exciting prospects, many of which seemed come out of no where with huge leaps in development/approach….that stuff just did not happen before.

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:50:47 +0000

you forgot the 6 pack.

By: klbader

klbader — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:47:47 +0000

I don’t remember people being too critical of either the Lackey or Crawford acquisitions when they happened. It is easy to criticize now. But if Crawford has a huge season next year, then it was a great deal again. I don’t know that Lackey will ever recapture his pre-Sox form, but at the time, the Lackey signing seemed like a good deal.

By: premiumpit

premiumpit — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:45:40 +0000

The stinking Sox will go back to being a shitty team. What else is new. They have always sucked. Wow they won two championships in recent years. It only took them close to 100 years lololololololol.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:40:49 +0000

If you didn’t think the Lackey, Beckett, or Crawford contracts were horrible at the time….then it is disingenuous to bring it up now (and it isn’t like Theo was a dictator with the power to make such decisions on his own). The Lackey and Beckett contracts were considered good deals for Boston at the time….and although the Crawford contract is high, unless its financial magnitude prevents them from acquiring other players….the deal isn’t bad for them at all…he isn’t dead weight on the roster and should bounce back just fine….it isn’t like they signed a one-trick, aging 1B to a 5 yr $125M extension.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:38:04 +0000

They have other brands?

By: shawnuel

shawnuel — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:34:31 +0000

I’ve got two words for Bosox fans critical of the Beckett and Crawford contracts: Jason Werth

By: homelanddefense

homelanddefense — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:32:20 +0000

wtf are you talking about? They have had great baseball teams, they have 7 world series titles. And Fenway is a great park if you love baseball and history.

I wont argue that a lot of Boston fans can be d bags (but its not like that is specific to Boston). Im sorry that you hated your time in Boston…..

By: Alex K

Alex K — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:27:12 +0000

Development is their problem. Players don’t tend to get better after they enter the system.

By: mplsjoe

mplsjoe — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:25:31 +0000

Awesome!

By: cintiphil

cintiphil — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:23:31 +0000

Classy fans and Boston should never be used in the same sentence. I know because I lived there for many years. They are all nuts, because they think they have great baseball teams and a great ballpark. Neither is true. This move is just going to make them big losers again.

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:22:47 +0000

Good riddance? So the (2) Championships weren’t productive enough?

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:21:43 +0000

Paper: I am right there with you on this one. That is two days in a row. Wow.
Your NewCastle is on it’s way!

By: cintiphil

cintiphil — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:20:00 +0000

Evidently they were not. When the Yawkey’s owned the team, no matter what they spent did nothing. It is how you spend the money, not how much. Look at this years Yanks and Phills. Out of the playoff’s. You are right that money is not everything, however Theo made it work. He was THE MOST SUCCESSFUL GM IN Redsox history. It is not only the money, but how it was all put together. The last owner’s refusal to may the money for a great player was for Carlton, who brought how many wins to the Phills? He went to Philly when Auggie Busch refused to pay 1 mil for him, and so he was traded. Bad use of money.

By: xpensivewinos

xpensivewinos — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:13:01 +0000

The Red Sox will be just fine.