Epstein working to save the season

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- There are turning points in everyone's baseball career, and this may be Theo Epstein's.

He is the general manager who led the Red Sox to their first world championship in 86 years, and we certainly will give him props -- as well as to predecessor Dan Duquette, because some of his players were on the 2004 championship team.

All you have to do is take a look at the e-mails that flow here and you know the bloom is off the rose.

Epstein was the Teflon GM after the '04 season and when he left the team during a philosophical dispute following '05, but he has been under fire since he returned.

We know the 2006 story all too well. A plethora of injuries, performance dropoffs, and admitted mistakes in trading away Bronson Arroyo and Cla Meredith. There was Hanley Ramirez becoming NL Rookie of the Year and Anibal Sanchez pitching a no-hitter, two players gone in the Josh Beckett deal (which was made while Epstein was away). Not to mention the ominous signing of Matt Clement the previous season, and the trading of Edgar Renteria because he didn't fit.

All of that has led to Epstein needing a grand slam. Nobody knows it more than him.

Epstein won the record bid for Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka and has held open trade talks with several teams on superstar hitter Manny Ramírez, who wants out of Boston again.

If Epstein were running Colorado or San Diego or Oakland he could deal Ramírez for prospects, but here the GM can't let him go without getting a major player back.

Forget about the Sox-imposed deadline for trading Ramírez, which passed at midnight. If a team offers the package Epstein's looking for -- whether it's tomorrow, a week from now, or a week into spring training -- Ramírez will be gone in a heartbeat.

Epstein's made two significant signings. Whether you agree with the caliber of the players, or if paying $23 million in '07 for Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew is sane, pining over either signing is wasted energy. Both players will fill holes adequately, if not superbly.

Where the angst should be directed is whether the Sox sign Matsuzaka and, more importantly, who will be the closer. If the Sox don't come up with a quality pitcher to replace Jonathan Papelbon, then they will struggle despite having a very good lineup.

There's a huge shortage of available closers, which is making "M*A*S*H" unit veteran Eric Gagne (at $5 million per year with incentives) someone the Red Sox might have to indulge in.

The Sox can hope Craig Hansen will mature, or Julian Tavarez could step in, or that they will get lucky with Devern Hansack. They can hope that Bryce Cox develops quicker than expected, but the absence of a guy they can depend on at the end is one that can bring very good teams to their knees.

In a division that has Mariano Rivera in New York and B.J. Ryan in Toronto, it's awfully difficult to compete without an elite guy at the end of the game. The closer is a great security blanket. If you don't have to worry about it, it makes the starting pitchers, the fielders, and, most notably, the manager, feel more at ease.

The Sox brass has said there might be one area on the team that might be a crapshoot, or one area they might not be able to solve before April. That place can't be closer, and they know it.

Epstein admitted yesterday that closer is the position that has kept him up at night for weeks. There's no easy solution to the problem that was created when Papelbon suffered a transient subluxation to his right shoulder Sept. 1, forcing him to become a starter so he could pitch a less strenuous every fifth day.

The Sox are firm that Papelbon will be a starting pitcher in '07. Could that thinking change? If there's enough medical evidence that Papelbon's shoulder can again withstand more stress, then maybe it could. But the Sox would never want to go there before exploring every option.

Epstein and his staff have been searching for a bona fide closer, someone who can bridge the gap between now and Hansen's future role. It's been a thorough process -- running through players such as J.J. Putz and Rafael Soriano, both of Seattle, and Washington's Chad Cordero.

But closers aren't dropping from the sky. And last night, Soriano was seen to be slipping past them, reportedly on his way to Atlanta for lefthander Horacio Ramirez.

"It's been a difficult process for all teams," said Indians general manager Mark Shapiro. "We've had the same problem. Relief pitching has been hard to come by this season."

The Red Sox are thinking outside the box, inside the box, every possible way.

Nobody works harder at these meetings than Epstein and his staff. They sit in their suite all night talking to teams, sorting out player reports by the dozens, trying every which way to make something happen. Few of them are seen sipping wine in the lobby after hours.

And although their work has landed them a place as sole bidder for the most talented righthanded starter on the market (Matsuzaka) and two very good positional players and hitters (Drew and Lugo), the final piece that would make the '07 Sox a potential AL East champion is the guy who pitches one inning at a time at the end of the game.

It is true the season is not played in December. But things won't necessarily get better by April in a market where the best closers have jobs.

Epstein has built a pretty good team, but the last piece is the defining one for the Red Sox. For Epstein.