Friday, January 20, 2006

   One thing I'll say as an acknowledged Yankee fan. If George Steinbrenner's front office operation had turned in an off-season like John Henry's boys have, whole forests would have been sacrificed to deliver an unending torrent of ridicule about the anarchic, unruly, squabbling, disorganized, laughable  "Bronx Zoo."

     Theo Epstein's return to the fold in this winter of discontent to a yet undisclosed position with an as yet undisclosed relationship with his alleged superior (Larry Lucchino) and his apparent inferiors (Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington) makes it clear who's really running the Red Sox  these days.

   And that's pretty much the tone of coverage in today's papers. The Globe's Dan Shaughnessy , previously villified for a column that some believe led to Theo's initial decision to leave the Sox, minces no words in his assessment of front office chaos. Although the following passage --  "I spoke with Henry late in the afternoon before he boarded a jet to fly home to Boston. I told him the same thing I had told him in December. I thought it looked as if he could not make a decision. I thought he should either fire Lucchino or tell Epstein to get lost." -- suggests that Dan has forgotten about that bright line between observer and actor.

   Tony Massarotti's column today is crisper, sharper with its punchline of "time for group therapy at 4 Yawkey Way." Here's his ultimate point: "As for the overall health of the Red Sox, we similarly wonder and worry. No matter what nonsense the Sox peddle about Lucchino’s unchanged role, it certainly seems now as if Henry is backing Epstein. The entire series of events that led to Epstein’s departure spun from the fractured relationship between mentor and apprentice, at which point Epstein walked. Now the owner of the club is bringing Epstein back, presumably in an elevated capacity, which only makes you wonder if there is a ticking time bomb in the Red Sox front office.
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      On ESPN.com, the Projo's Sean McAdam isn't quite as critical, but he's got the best passage and anonymous quote explaining the internal front office dynamic: From the time Epstein shocked the franchise -- which had readied a press release announcing his contract extension -- and the rest of baseball by abruptly resigning his post, principal owner John Henry has been working to bring Epstein back into the fold, hoping to repair the trust issues that Epstein believed were violated when details of his negotiations were leaked to the media.

He hired outside consultants to examine the organization's corporate culture, rebuffed Lucchino's many attempts to install Jim Beattie as Epstein's permanent replacement and kept the lines of communication open with Epstein.

"Look at it this way," said a person from outside the organization with knowledge of the situation. "It's like there was a controversial call on the field [in football], and Larry has been trying to get to the line of scrimmage and get a play off and John has been calling timeout, trying to get it looked at and reversed."

At some point, a few months down the line (and assuming they find a center fielder by then), this Red Sox team will be able to speak for itself on the field. But for now, local news outlets should be tireless in their effort to figure out just who's minding the store. And how things got so crazy.