Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 26, 2006
Touchy Feely Sox

Gordon Edes sums up damage control day at Fenway yesterday.

Oprah could have had a field day. Fact, fiction, or to use John W. Henry's word, ''mythology," Ms. Winfrey could have advised all of Theo Epstein's adoring fans to disregard the inconsistencies of the million little pieces involved in his departure from the Red Sox and focus on the ''underlying message of redemption" in his return. That worked for America's most famous self-proclaimed crackhead author, James Frey, why not for a fractured front office?

And of course, there's the hug:

Sunday night, at the Brookline home of Larry Lucchino, in the presence of principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner, Lucchino and Theo Epstein agreed that Epstein would reclaim his rightful role as general manager. And then they did something that photographers throughout New England would have paid a hefty sum to have captured for posterity.

They hugged.

''At one point," Henry said, speaking by phone late last night, ''we started to celebrate. Then we said, 'Let's execute, as opposed to celebrating.' Though I did see those two hug. Maybe that was my imagination. But I'm sticking to it."

I remember Michael Corelone hugging people. From Edes article:

Truer words were spoken by Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who never bought into the idea that Epstein was more bent on becoming a roadie for Pearl Jam or taking the same humanitarian path as brother Paul than he was on running the Red Sox. ''It's like a Mafia hit," Ricciardi had said after Epstein bolted. ''You don't believe it until you see the guy at the funeral."

It's not in Lucchino's makeup to stay out of Epstein's way. In a month (or as soon as Theo tries to make a deal Larry doesn't like), they'll be back to the, "real, not imagined, fissures in their relationship."


Posted by David Pinto at 08:27 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Awww, they hugged. How sweet.

Posted by: Benjamin Kabak at January 26, 2006 09:17 AM

Now, I'm just going by the Yankees' front office hierarchy, but why does the position Lucchino holds have as much weight as it does?

Henry really needs to set the two apart - Lucchino runs the team as it stands on a day to day basis, and Epstein worries about transactions & future talent. Why is *that* so hard to pull off?

Posted by: Pete at January 27, 2006 10:48 AM
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