For Epstein, actions speak just as loud as words
ST. LOUIS -- His torment lasted only 30 years, much less than most Red Sox fans', but unlike most, Theo Epstein actually did something about it.
The youthful general manager often spoke about taking the Red Sox to a world championship after he was tabbed the 11th GM of the Sox Nov. 25, 2002 after Billy Beane and J.P. Ricciardi had turned down Boston's advances, but ever the realists, Red Sox fans met Epstein's plans with caution, if not disbelief.
Why were Epstein's goals and dreams not the same old rhetoric that had been spewed by well-meaning Lou Gorman, Haywood Sullivan, and Dick O'Connell?
Epstein must have spent as much of his first season deflecting jokes about his youth and inexperience as he did trying to trumpet his agenda for making the Sox World Series contenders.
After just two seasons on the job, the New York City-born and Brookline-raised Epstein was celebrating with champagne with his players, some younger, some older, in the visiting clubhouse at Busch Stadium, looking and acting every bit the kid from Brookline and laughing all the way to immortality.
"We're a really good team and we did it in style," said Epstein, wearing a cap that was drenched with periodic pourings of beer and champagne. "We won 45 out of the last 60 I think. We made some history. History will point out that it really doesn't matter how it got done so much as it did get done."
He had one spectacular offseason, clearly outdoing his Yankee counterpart, Brian Cashman, who, despite landing Alex Rodriguez, couldn't land a superstar pitcher. Epstein was able to close the deal for Curt Schilling on Thanksgiving Day at Schilling's Arizona home in what turned out to be a more significant signing. Epstein also signed closer Keith Foulke and second baseman Mark Bellhorn before engineering one of the gutsiest deals in Red Sox history, sending the popular Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in a four-team swap that brought Twins first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and Montreal shortstop Orlando Cabrera to Boston to shore up what Epstein had recognized as a sloppy defense.
The year before, Epstein acquired David Ortiz and turned him from platoon player into superstar. He tied up Trot Nixon with a long-term deal, and brought in value players such as ill Mueller and Kevin Millar.
"He did a remarkable thing," said Sox principal owner John W. Henry, who appropriately wore a raincoat in the euphoric Sox clubhouse. "He went out and traded the face of the franchise for defense and speed. That was a gutsy, gutsy move and it's undoubtedly one of the major reasons why we're here tonight celebrating a world championship."
After the personnel were in place, Epstein watched an amazing transformation from a .500 team of bumbling defensive players to one that never beat itself. The Red Sox won the last eight games of the playoffs.
"I never thought of it in those terms," Epstein said. "We were just trying to win day to day after we went three down to the Yankees. Once we made history there, we took the same approach to the Cardinals, just win one game at a time until we accomplished our goals. Our scouting staff did an outstanding job and our pitchers should get credit for executing it. These things don't happen by accident. There was a lot of hard work that went into it."
After all those years, all that torment, this one felt every bit as good as advertised.
"All that adversity makes it that much sweeter," Epstein said. "This one will mean more than any that come after it because of all that happened before it."
Epstein had some water coming from his eyes, and when asked if he were crying said, "That's beer coming from my head. I do not cry. I'm a true modern American male."
As he watched Foulke flip to Mientkiewicz for the final out of the historic game, Epstein began thinking of Red Sox lore, and how this validated all the great players and teams that had played before.
"You start thinking about Ted Williams and Yaz and everyone else who should have had one of these," Epstein said.
Asked about the term "band of idiots," the Yale law school grad said, "They're our band of idiots. They're pretty special people. Idiots and all."
Epstein won it without coming close to accomplishing his goal of rebuilding the farm system so it could produce a steady stream of home-grown talent to be used on the parent team or as trade bait for bigger deals. He did it without having to trade major prospects in the organization.
"Well, we're really proud of the fact that we only traded two of our top 25 prospects, we didn't spend a ton of money in free agency. We stuck to our principles and beliefs. We have a solid foundation and we're going to build on it," Epstein said.
After these once-in-a-lifetime champagne-drenched moments, one had to wonder, where does Epstein go from here?
"We need to keep a major Red Sox team together," Epstein said. "I'd love to be able to tell every one of these guys they'll be back next year. We have to be consistent in our approach and put the team first. We have to take into consideration the whole sum of the parts and formulate a plan for next year."
