The Boston Globe is reporting that the Chicago Cubs contacted the Red Sox in an effort to interview Theo Epstein for a job - GM or higher, presumably - with the team. Peter Abraham credited Dan Shaughnessy with the scoop that allegedly came from a "team source." The team was meeting today to decide how to respond. Epstein needs the Sox ownership to approve as he is currently under contract. Boston could demand compensation from the Cubs if they hire Epstein, 37. He's been Sox GM since 2002. [Globe]
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Results tagged “theoepstein”
The Red Sox have begun the post-choke era on Thursday. Call it Heimlich Day. Terry Francona and Theo Epstein eulogized the team's total collapse of 2011 with some blunt comments to try and explain the 7-20, uhhh, effort in September. They started with themselves. "This year, we weren't at our best," Theo said. "I can say that about myself. Tito and I talked about it and I think he'd say the same about himself." He also said part of the post-choke analysis requires management to evaluate themselves to see if they should stay in their current jobs.
Bostonist was rooting for a rain out Friday night. Have you ever seen a team more in need of an extra day away from baseball than your 2011 Red Sox? Seriously. We said on Friday we expected - hoped, really - Boston to be ready to take on New York for one last time this season especially because they're 6-0 in the Bronx this season. A two-day break before fighting to preserve a playoff spot should be a good thing.That's what we think, anyway.
September of 2011 will be one to remember for Red Sox fans. And after a gag-filled 5-16 month to date, that bad taste in your mouth won't make for a good memory. We've had errors, bad pitching and non-existent offense, at times, from a highly regarded and well paid team that should be better than they are. They might not be as good as the 20-6 July team, but, 5-16? Really? That brings us to today and the first of three games in New York against the Yankees, who just clinched the A.L. East. If these Red Sox can't find their best with three almost must-win games against those guys then they don't deserve a playoff spot. They're going to have to earn it this year as the Tampa Bay Rays are now two games back in the Wild Card. And the Angels are looming, too. Leave it all on the field, guys. Theo Epstein is doing that in the front office by almost trading for Mets pitcher and Springfield's Chris Capuano, apparently for one start.
David Ortiz has been pretty reliable since he came to Boston in 2003. So, Bostonist was stunned when he said the team's September-slump has him worried. Papi said this: "Hell, yeah, you've got to panic. If we keep on playing like that, we’ll be home in the tub."
For the second straight night, the Red Sox messed up the Texas Rangers pitching staff with a thoroughly one-sided 13-2 romp on Wednesday. The Sox outscored Texas 24-7 in the last two games with 30 hits. Boston's assault featured 16 hits, three home runs, and at least one run in seven innings. Carl Crawford was the Sox biggest bat with a 2-3 effort, five RBI and a home run.
Red Sox Sox GM Theo Epstein was able to acquire a pitcher before the 2011 MLB trading deadline, it just wasn't Rich Harden. Yahoo! Sports said Sox execs and trainers questioned the deal based on Harden's health history and Oakland nixed it. So, Boston switched gears and cooked up a three-way deal involving the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers that brought Seattle's Erik Bedard to Fenway Park and cost the Sox four minor-league prospects most fans have never heard of. The Sox also obtained AAA right-hander Josh Fields from Seattle.
As the Red Sox roll through July with a 19-6 record befitting their status as championship contenders, Theo Epstein is doing whatever he can to bolster Boston's roster. Theo beefed up the starting rotation by dealing Lars Anderson to Oakland for righthander Rich Harden. Harden is Harden is 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA since returning from an injury. Anderson was in Pawtucket and was staying there with Adrian Gonzalez here. Harden has had multiple injuries. The trade also includes a player to be named later. Earlier on Saturday, Theo obtained Mike Aviles from the Kansas City Royals for Yamaico Navarro and minor league pitcher Kendal Volz. Aviles appeared in Saturday's game in Chicago at third. Aviles struggled at the plate in 2011 despite batting .325 as a rookie in 2008 and .304 in 2010. He's an infielder, and could possibly see time in the outfield.
Philadelphia's pitching was better than Boston's once again, this time by one run in a 2-1 victory on Wednesday. The Phillies won the first two games in the three-game series. Jon Lester faces Cole Hamels at noon as the Red Sox try to avoid a sweep.
While the Red Sox on-field product might be a total mess, the front office is on point and taking care of business. Theo Epstein and crew finally reached an agreement with first baseman Adrian Gonzalez on a seven-year, $154 million contract extension with the Red Sox.
The Celtics continue to stumble towards the playoffs with a 5-5 record in their last 10 games after losing to Memphis Grizzlies 90-87 on Wednesday. Boston led 70-67 after three quarters but fell behind 84-77 late in the game after failing to convert all but one possession in the last 3:04. The Celtics (50-20) failed to move into a first-place tie with Chicago in the Eastern Conference.
Members of the Red Sox are reporting to Fort Myers in advance of Tuesday's opening workout for pitchers and catchers and the full-squad workout four days later. Notably, the laser show is in town in the person of Dustin Pedroia. He's healthy again and ready to go again after his injury-shortened 2010 season. "Oh, my foot is repaired...I feel great. There's not going to be any setbacks or anything like that," Pedroia said.
So it happened. The exuberant joy that came with last week's announcement, that was killed by the weekend's news that it wasn't going to happen - you can let it all back in again. Adrian Gonzalez is coming to Fenway after all (we think), and the lineup is ready to be stacked.
Now, why is Eric Wilbur channeling Dan Shaughnessy? He actually said "Interest has faded" in the Red Sox. We'll be the first to say there is work to be done on the 2011 team. However, Fenway will be banged out on Opening Day, hordes of Sox fans will appear wherever the team travels to next season, and unless there's a huge soccer riot involving Liverpool Football Club, the average member of Red Sox Nation won't give a crap about soccer. Go interview Dustin Pedroia and find out if he's healthy again. That matters.
Hot Stove baseball season began in earnest in Boston with the Red Sox decision to exercise the option of David Ortiz, a move that pays him $12.5 million for 2011. According to Theo Epstein, Papi is "cool" with his one-year extension after not being cool with it.
The only piece of business left for the 2010 Red Sox involves Jon Lester's quest for 20 wins, a first for a Sox lefty since Mel Parnell in 1953. Lester's last start is tonight, and he's finishing strong with a 1.76 ERA in his last six games.
The show-stopping slugger David Ortiz was for most of his career in Boston, the guy we all thought was gone for good, is so totally back. We hope. Perhaps it's just an inadequate staff of pitchers from the Detroit Tigers that has a revitalized Ortiz amassing seven RBI in two games. Maybe he's really back and that A.L. East deficit just started to look much more manageable. Stay tuned...
Pity the crew that was responsible for staffing the TD Garden on Monday. Not only were they responsible for not one, but two games on a holiday Monday, they weren't given the option of leaving early. Instead, they had to endure every painful moment of one terribly lousy Garden day.
Let's face it. That was uglier than Minnesota's starting power forward.
But if the Celtics are going to make a run at 70+ wins this season (and while PTI and the Globe and others are speculating about the possibility, we say, let's can that talk and let things unfold), they have to win games like last night. Trap games, against young athletic teams, on the second night of back-to-backs. And somehow, finally, the Celtics did.
Six hours of baseball; 15 innings; a zero 29 straight times; 496 pitches; 96 at-bats; 11 hits
We all knew this week's four-game series would have implications beyond August 6-9. The main implication is that the hapless 0-8 Yankees are gone. Now we have the Yankees who beat the Red Sox twice in two days in two totally different ways and have taken a 4.5 game lead in the division. New York outhit the Sox on Thursday and slightly outpitched them on Friday.
It sounds like Bob Ryan wants to be able to watch baseball while keeping his head buried in the sand. Steroids may be more of a Hall of Fame/legacy issue and the reason that is the case is because the history of baseball occupies a much larger place in the present and future of the game than other sports. Bostonist keeps hearing that from people like Ryan, anyway. Sox fans can still follow steroid-scandal news and a box score, Mr. Ryan. Steroids are a fact of life in baseball now, and nothing is going to change that for quite some time.
On a day when an actual game was overshadowed by front office moves and clubhouse goodbyes, the Red Sox managed to win anyway. Justin Masterson, Adam LaRoche and two minor-league arms left the Nation in order to bring back Casey Kotchman and Victor Martinez as Theo Epstein was active again at the trading deadline. Martinez is in Boston possibly because of one word: versatility. Theo says he can hit, catch and play first base. Kotchman is supposedly a defensive upgrade over LaRoche. Theo may have created a few headaches for Terry Francona, though.
Clay Buchholz told NESN that he's in a game where confidence is key. He's got it now and has to keep it to be successful in the MLB. Buchholz solidified his self-confidence and the organization's confidence in him on Friday by pitching 5.2 innings and giving up just one run on four hits as the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays, 4-1. And now, he goes back to Pawtucket. So watch out all you AAA punks.
Don't even think about last night's chokefestloss in Baltimore again. It was so June. There's another game today that, hopefully, will feature Beckett being Beckett - 7-1, 1.94 ERA last 10 starts. And, the bullpen can get a second straight day off.
A Red Sox hat is ubiquitous. (Note to Yankees fans: That means lots of people wear them in lots of places.) Sox fans, young and old, near and far away, wear them. Celebrities flaunt them even when they are celebrities we don't want sporting Sox gear. Stores are filled with them for us to buy. And, as we all know, there are many of them to choose from. There is now another hat to pick from. Why, in the name of Dr. Charles Steinberg, do we need a watermelon scratch-n-sniff Sox hat? Is there a reason for this abomination? Theo? Larry? Mr. Henry? Can someone explain this to Bostonist?
"I do think we're turning in the right direction," said Doc Rivers after the game last night. Whether it's that the Celtics actually have shaken off the early-January stinkiness, or whether it was just the appearance of the godawful New Jersey Nets, the Celtics enjoyed their biggest blowout in a long time, cruising to a 118-86 win and bringing Gino out of mothballs for the first time in forever.
Sure, it's 60 degrees outside. But it's beginning to look a lot like winter - well, maybe spring - in Las Vegas, where it's going to be in the 60s today, but more importantly, where baseball's winter meetings are taking place. And like this wintry scene, the Red Sox have come up empty so far.
If you were worried about the Celtics seeking motivation for a repeat, worry no more. Rajon Rondo blogged: "We have to repeat, because we have to go back to the White House to meet Obama."