There are those in the Boston media who won’t give Theo Epstein and the current Red Sox administration credit for the two championships the Red Sox won under their watch.
They point to the fact that the bulk of the 2004 championship team was put together by the previous administration, and even the 2007 team featured an ace pitcher and a World Series MVP that the Red Sox traded for while Epstein was dressing up as a gorilla and touring Africa with Pearl Jam (or something like that).
Those are solid points, but they ignore a few key factors in both of those championships.
The Red Sox front office identified a couple of key weaknesses and aggressively addressed them prior to both of those championship seasons.
In 2004, the Red Sox knew they needed to improve their starting pitching and the backend of their bullpen. Epstein traded for Curt Schilling, signed him to an extension, and signed Keith Foulke.
In 2007, the Red Sox were aggressive again. They signed JD Drew, and famously posted $51,111,111.11 for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka, who they eventually signed to a 6-year contract.
Without those moves, the Red Sox probably don’t win either championship. The current front office deserves all the credit in the world for making the moves that put the Red Sox over the top.
But since 2007, they’ve been in a slump.
They dropped Manny Ramirez and replaced him with Jason Bay, who they let walk in the offseason because they didn’t want to risk giving him a long term contract.
They decided to walk out of a meeting with Scott Boras and Mark Teixeira without getting his name on the dotted line. They then had their owner tweet that they were done negotiating with Teixeira, and watched as he signed with the Yankees.
By the way, the Yankees won the World Series that season.
They then signed John Lackey to a ridiculous 5-year contract, apparently losing their aversion to giving long term contract extensions.
They traded for Victor Martinez, then let him go because they didn’t want to overpay him in a long term contract. Apparently going back to the “we hate long term contracts” stance.
For years they wanted a one through nine lineup that consisted of high OBP guys, and two monster bats in the middle. Now, they’re supposedly going to offer Carl Crawford a huge contract…Crawford is neither a power bat nor an OBP guy.
So, what’s the plan? Just throw a different pile of crap against the wall every season and hope something sticks?
There is no excuse for spending $170 million on a roster and having the pathetic outfield the Red Sox threw out every day last season. Yes, there were injuries, but the “master plan” had a 36-year old guy playing center field every day.
How could you not expect injuries?
The Red Sox have gone from a team that had two unstoppable monsters in the middle of their lineup surrounded by a bunch of above average bats to a team with a couple of above average bats surrounded by a bunch of mediocre hitters.
Oh, and they have a catcher who has trouble throwing the ball back to the pitcher and hasn’t proven he can hit in the majors, no third baseman, an awful hitting outfield, and an old, injured shortstop.
Not what you’d expect out of the second highest payroll in baseball, is it?
Which brings us back to Theo Epstein and the current Red Sox front office. While they definitely deserve credit for bringing two World Series championships to Boston, they also deserve the blame for turning that World Series team into what the Red Sox are today.
Which is a middle-of-the-road team with an astronomical payroll.
There is plenty of time for the Red Sox to do something this offseason. There are moves to be made. But if this is the team the Red Sox go into the season with, the one that features third baseman Jed Lowrie, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, left fielder Mike Cameron, and a bullpen that once again consists of Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon, and a bunch of shlubs, then it’s time for Theo Epstein to get back into that gorilla suit and go back to being a Pearl Jam groupie.
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