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Epstein's Departure Brings Back Talk of Curse
John Henry, left, could have stepped in right away to force Larry Lucchino, right, to get along with Theo Epstein
Sports Commentary
By RICHARD JUSTICE
As someone who has been on the receiving end of Larry Lucchino's rage, I understand why Theo Epstein walked away from his dream job.
Maybe the Red Sox really are cursed.
How else can you explain what we've seen unfold the last few days? One year after winning a World Series, the Red Sox have imploded.
Not because of a bad bullpen or a weak rotation, either. Those things you can understand.
Maybe you can understand this, too. The Red Sox imploded because of greed and jealousy, because someone cared how much credit someone else was getting.
Here's hoping Red Sox owner John Henry decides to get involved. He's apparently not much for dealing with people. If he's not careful, he's going to watch his management team run the franchise off the road and into a deep ditch.
First things first.
Epstein is making a terrible mistake. Is he really leaving as general manager because Lucchino leaked some negative things about him to a Boston Globe columnist?
Get a grip, Theo.
Theo knows Larry well enough to know that sometimes Larry can't help himself. His mentor, the late Edward Bennett Williams, believed in what he called "contest living."
Williams was so fiercely competitive that he allowed it to control his life at times. He lived to win, whether it was owning the Baltimore Orioles or representing the Washington Post as the newspaper's attorney.
On his first Opening Day as Orioles owner, he watched Jim Palmer throw three straight balls to the season's first hitter.
He opened the small window separating his suite from that of Orioles general manager Hank Peters and yelled: "What's wrong with Palmer?"
Lucchino is like that, too.
He likes to stroll down halls, approach employees and -- he thinks this is a good motivational tool -- insult them. He has done this so often over the years that few people pay attention.
It had to irritate him that Epstein became an icon in New England while Lucchino was shoved to the background.
Theo Epstein helped the Red Sox win their first title since 1918 with some personnel moves
Lucchino discovered Epstein as a Yale college student. Actually, Calvin Hill -- former All-Pro running back and father of NBA star Grant Hill -- discovered Theo and recommended him to Larry, but let's not get bogged down in details.
Lucchino took Theo with him to San Diego and Boston. He encouraged him to get a law degree. He made him general manager.
All of a sudden, Epstein became a cult figure when the Red Sox won the World Series. Lucchino was, well, just another guy wearing a blue suit and trying to act as if he'd done something.
Lucchino tried to play hardball in signing Theo to a new contract. He finally gave in to Theo's financial requests -- at least some of them -- last week. He was ready to sign him for a three-year, $4.5 million deal.
Twenty-four hours before that deal was to become official, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote a column lamenting the loss of innocence in the Red Sox front office.
He said the Lucchino-Epstein relationship might never be the same because of petty jealousies.
"The unfortunate part of the entire episode is that a lot of inside stuff went public," Shaughnessy wrote. "The father-son dynamic of Lucchino and Epstein has been unveiled before all of Red Sox Nation. The family linen was aired publicly and now every move will be examined for fingerprints: Theo or Larry? Did they agree? Did Theo have to talk Larry into it? Or was this some bigfoot move by Lucchino?"
Here's the paragraph that apparently sent Epstein over the edge:
"When Theo's assistant Josh Byrnes (hired by Arizona as GM Friday) made a deal with Colorado, Epstein thought he had a better deal with another club and requested that Lucchino fall on the sword and invoke the ownership approval clause to kill the Rockies deal. Accustomed to people hating him, Lucchino took the fall, killing the deal and saving Epstein."
Whether that paragraph is true or not, Epstein read it and apparently assumed it came from Lucchino. He decided he couldn't work for someone who'd go behind his back and leak negative stuff to reporters.
He stunned Red Sox Nation by resigning on Monday. About four seconds after he quit, Henry should have gotten involved. He should have sat Lucchino and Epstein down in a room and either forced them to get along or told both of them to hit the road.
Instead, he did the worst thing of all. He did nothing. He allowed the greatest Red Sox general manager -- at least in terms of accomplishments -- to walk out.
The thing is, Theo knows Larry well. He knows that beneath that mean streak, beneath all the pettiness, there's a very decent human being and one of the best executives in baseball.
The Red Sox are much better with Lucchino and Epstein than with just one of them.
Epstein might end up with the Dodgers or Padres or Phillies. Lucchino might lure Kevin Towers, a brilliant baseball man, from San Diego.
But it never should have come to this. They did something together that hadn't been done in Boston in almost a century.
Wasn't there enough credit to go around? Lucchino should have had Epstein signed months ago. By drawing out negotiations and playing hardball with money, he made Epstein feel unappreciated. And then came the column.
As for Epstein, he should have handled things differently. He should have taken the newspaper into Lucchino's office, threw it on his desk and said: "I know this came from you. You want to apologize, or do you want to take it outside and settle it like men?"
Believe me, Lucchino understands this kind of talk. Sometimes he only seems to respect those who'll match him insult for insult.
Nevertheless, one of America's great sports franchises is diminished today. More than who said what to whom, it's all just sad. So sad. And unnecessary.
Source: AP