Epstein Agrees To Extension

Overrated.

the job he's done w/ drafting and emphasizing player development actually cannot be understated, juiced

to keep adding valuable arms and developing parts that are valuable in trades are direct evidence of how this emphasis has created a team that will contend for a championship year in and year out

im not quite on board with juiced, but would like to see how he did with a small market club before i put him down in the annals of GM history as one of the greats.

oh and anyone think the extension will have some kind of protection for the organization built in? .... just in case theo decides he doesnt care anymore and quits again?

I can think of a few teams who would challenge the assertion that Boston has the best organization.

Also, having the 2nd highest payroll does help. When he signs real stinkers like Lugo he can bury the player. If we are going to bang the Yanks for their salary we also need to dock points from Boston.

Anyway, hard to knock the guy. Just want to point out that he still has some room to improve.

I am all aboard the Epstein train. He has done an excellent job and has done so by maintaining/cutting payroll rather than continually increasing the payroll.

I think theo deserves all the credit in the world for the job he's done in Boston. I can't wait for the rings to keep adding up and theo getting the recognition he deserves.

Very few Red Sox fans consider Theo the end all be all of GMs. Those of us who remember the dark days of the Duquette age where the farm system was simply trade bait, hey I'm way more than happy, even without 2 titles. With two titles and all signs pointing towards a team being competitive for many years, I'm ecstatic about Theo's work as GM.

So it comes down to this, under Theo:
1) the Red Sox have won 2 World Series titles.
2) The Red Sox farm is considered one of the deepest in the MLB and is starting to turn out stars. Add to that, he's holding onto his biggest chips (Lester was always asked for)
3) More of Theo's major trades and signings have worked out than not. Even the bigger failures (Gagne, Meredith, Lugo) had good logic behind them and for that matter haven't harmed the Red Sox future.

I can't believe someone actually wants to compare Ned Colletti and the "Always Let You Down" Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox. C'mon now. Really.

"Epstein could have locked up the division and probably a World Series if he would have pulled the triger and done the Santana trade."

Not necessarily. An Ellsbury, Lowrie, Masterson package removes 3 pieces that have been pretty big for the Sox right now. Masterson has stepped in big as a reliever (even with tonights loss), not having Lowrie would have required another trade (Sox see Cora as a back up), and Ellsbury's speed has added a dimension to the Sox game that they haven't had in a long time. Then a Lester, Crisp, and prospect package... well Lester has been our most consistent pitcher.

Note: I'm not saying the Red Sox are better off without Santana. Just saying it would makes things interesting.

I'm against both of you purple and papelboner. I'll be the first to say it. The Sox are better without Johan, and anyone who has been watching the Sox all season will say the same thing.

What lester has done for the Sox in Schilling's absence can't even be spoken. When it was thought that beckett and Matsuzaka would have to be overworked, it turned out just the opposite. Beckett got plenty of rest on the DL without straining the Sox rotation. Same can be said for Masterson when he stepped in the rotation. Also Masterson was beyond cooperative going into the bullpen which is a rare quality in pitchers who know they are plenty good to start.

Do you remember when Jed Lowrie was called back up to replace Lugo? He actually STRENGTHENED the line-up and the infield rather than holding the team back. He had a week or two period where it seemed like every game he was knocking in a big rbi to win the game. He's compiled numbers to be compared with other solid shortstops in the league. Perhaps he's proven he can be lugo's long term replacement.

And Jacoby Jacoby Jacoby... he's struggling but if you watch his stroke and you watch him when he's on, you know exactly what kind of player he's going to be (i'll give you a hint: Kenny Lofton). His defense as Ken Rosenthal said warrants him being in the gold glove balloting for center field as he makes great catch after great catch.

Main point is losing any one of these guys and we'd be right back there around 80 wins with the yankees. A pitcher can only effect the game once every 5-6 days. guys like lowrie and ellsbury are young, cheap talent that is hard to replace. IF the sox had signed johan, they would also get close to the yankees payroll.

Theo knows what he's doing and i'm damned proud of him for turning down Johan. That was a tough thing for him to do i'm sure.

except lester wont need roids or roger clemens to do it OH! lol. sorry

2004 MLB payrolls
N.Y. Yankees $182,835,513
Boston 125,208,542
Anaheim 101,084,667
New York Mets 100,629,303
Philadelphia 93,219,167
Chicago Cubs 91,101,667
Los Angeles 89,694,342
Atlanta 88,507,788
San Francisco 82,019,167
Seattle 81,543,833
St. Louis 75,633,517
Houston 74,666,303
Arizona 70,204,984
Ch. White Sox 65,212,500
Colorado 64,590,403
Oakland 59,825,167

Redsox fans are so blind it's sad. Besides the Yankees, you were $25M more than any other team in the league. After the Angels(who were $25M back), in the AL, the nearest team is $45M below. That's enough money for 4 all star caliber players at the time.

And I won't even get into overslotting.

"Actually the Red Sox have 4th highest payroll in the game."

if you look at that website more closely you will see..
"Note:Team salaries do not represent full team payroll. Amount listed includes current salary for all players currently on the roster."

Manny's contract is not on there so if you add his contract (minus bay's) thats another 16MM. that makes them the 2nd highest.

they are still paying the 2nd most this year...

the yankees could trade away their biggest contracts before the dealine too and claim to be the 10 highest payroll but that still wouldnt stop people from saying they pay the most

Forgot to include YOUUUUKKKKK!

start_wearing_purple

The very first post was biased where he decided to ignore any bad moves.

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There is no denying Yankees have done an awful job, lol, I didn't have to mention that in my post. When you have a payroll $25M more than any other team, you can afford to make mistakes, ala Lugo. Where any other team would be hurting from that, it doesn't matter to the Redsox.

I just say he's over rated. Much like Torre, who for some reason people thought he did such a good job. You could put a monkey in there with a $200M payroll and you'll end up with a decent record. Same with Cashman, he's not a good GM at all, but some people consider him a great GM.

It's weird, these people who are fixated on the Sox payroll. The reason Epstein gets the props that he gets from baseball people is that the Sox under him continually improve while continually reducing their payroll.

The first Epstein championship was built almost entirely around expensive veteran free agents. And there, yes, I'll agree, pretty much anyone can win if you can buy Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Manny Ramirez, Keith Foulke, Johnny Damon and others. You buy an all-star team every year and one year out of ten you'll probably win it all. That's fair.

But Epstein's contribution has mainly come not in the area of expensive free agents but in player development and low-cost signings. It's guys like Billy Mueller, David Ortiz, and Kevin Millar who helped the Sox take it to the next level. And after they won in '04, Epstein started jettisoning a lot of his expensive guys and started putting more and more chips in the farm system. The Sox of this year and last year are as much home-grown as they are built with money -- more probably. Their ace Beckett comes from the farm (in the form of cashing in Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez). The #2 starter Lester is home-grown. The closer (Papelbon) and set-up guy (Masterson) are homegrown. The team's two MVP candidates, Youkilis and Pedroia, are home-grown. They're home-grown almost all the way up the middle (Lowrie, Pedroia, Ellsbury; Varitek was acquired as a propsect). So they signed JD Drew, Lugo, and Matsuzaka to big contracts -- that's a lot different than buying a whole team.

Meanwhile the payroll is going down. They have a ton of money coming off the books this year and it would be a shock if they invested big dollars in the free-agent market. And the payroll is probably going to keep going down for a little while. They have Lars Anderson coming up to replace Lowell (by having Youkilis slide to third). At least one of the expensive corner outfielders (Bay or Drew) is going to give way to Reddick or Kalish. There's no question that the direction the team is going in is to build the club from within and use their financial power to keep their stars and also to fill the occasional hole. That's exactly what you should do in their position and they're doing it and winning every year. Like him or don't like him, as a Red Sox fan I'll take him any day of the week -- particularly as compared to the buffoons who used to run this team.

biggest mistake = carlos pena