Bye bye Tito, We hardly knew ye:

[captain insano]

i don't know how anybody can defend theo anymore. all you have to do is just look at who he has signed and who they let go. he did a great job with the farm system but that is now far over shadowed with how poorly he has done with free agent signings. john henry thinks of theo like his son. that will only prolong the teams problems. unfortunately theo isn't going anywhere.

 

[reflexblue]

i don't know how anybody can defend theo anymore. all you have to do is just look at who he has signed and who they let go. he did a great job with the farm system but that is now far over shadowed with how poorly he has done with free agent signings. john henry thinks of theo like his son. that will only prolong the teams problems. unfortunately theo isn't going anywhere.

You know he has made some great signings over the years the year he got Dice K they won the WS and Dice K won the last game i think. A Beltrane was another along with A Gonzales. But for ever great singing he throws in a real clunker like JDDrew for 15 mill a year, and he had no competition no one else was going to give Drew that kind of money , not even close. Then theres Lacky another head scratcher.

 

[sdaniels7114]

Theo isn't going anywhere and Tito goes only if he wants to.

 

[chicowalker]

You know he has made some great signings over the years the year he got Dice K they won the WS and Dice K won the last game i think. A Beltrane was another along with A Gonzales. But for ever great singing he throws in a real clunker like JDDrew for 15 mill a year, and he had no competition no one else was going to give Drew that kind of money , not even close. Then theres Lacky another head scratcher.

re Drew and lackey:

What were the better options at the time?

Drew clearly was an injury risk, but he was a great player when healthy prior to signing. He got a lot of undue crap from Boston fans and media from what I can tell, as they were on him even when playing well -- and he did have 1 very good year w/the Sox along with a classic JD Drew year of "very good but shortened by injury." His truly weird year was his first w/the Sox -- mostly healthy, played poorly -- not sure if his kid's illness was the cause.

But I'd go back and ask what should the Sox have done at that time? Was there a better option for RF? Was there a better option they passed on who would have been available the next year?

Same re Lackey. He may have been overpaid, but I don't really care about that. But there wasn't any reason I know of to foresee his complete implosion. He was the best alternative that offseason, I believe, or at least the best realistic one. (I'm not sure if that was the offseason when Sabathia went to NY.)

 

[chicowalker]

Theo isn't going anywhere and Tito goes only if he wants to.

Wasn't it announced that Francona is gone?

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Too bad Theo's not going with him. Need to start building from the ground up.

 

[Wolfpack]

Theo isn't going anywhere and Tito goes only if he wants to.

I agree with this and have backed off my earlier criticism of the team for (most likely) firing Tito. The more I hear, the more it seems Tito wants to go and the team is going to let him.

Can you blame Tito for wanting to leave? Guy wins 2 World Series in 8 years, but because of a bad September, everybody treats him like crap. The more I see how Boston fans treat the Red Sox, the more I say that I can't blame guys who want to leave. You can get the same job and the same money and the same fame and glory somewhere else with infinitely less hassle.

 

[Run DMC]

They're going to paint this as Tito's decision. Yeah right. Why do people give these guys such a break? The fault is with Tito. He didn't have these guys ready-mentally or physically. Period. And he made zillions of bad decisions this season as well as encouraging the worst aspects of this whiny team. He did a bad job. In the real world, you get fired for doing a crappy job. Why do people get so sentimental for sports tards?

 

[cupofjoe1962]

Theo has got to go. You could have put an end to hunger with the amount of cash this dip**** has flushed down the toliet in the last 7-8 years.

Wiz kid my ass. More like spoiled brat who was given the keys to the Porsche...

I agree !

Boy Blunder goto go !

He talks about Money ball and he spends as logically as a drunken sailor
on leave in the phillipines.

If you value OBP...... Why in the world would you sign Carl Crawford?
Larry Flint walks more than Carl Crawford.

I hear they run all of their decisions by a computer they call Carmine.
John Lackey never pitched well at Fenway...... so did the computer expect
that to change?


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1190632/1/index.htm

One floor below street level on Yawkey Way, in his windowless corner office which looks out upon a bank of cubicles that could pass for a telemarketing firm, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is deep in consultation with a trusted adviser he identifies only as Carmine. Adrian Gonzalez may be the team's most valuable player and the object of an 11-year Ahab-like pursuit by Epstein, buta move the G.M. never makes without consulting Carmine, a five-year-old proprietary computer program that is the virtual brains of the Boston operation.

They say Ellsbury cannot play CF, so they sign a 37 year old CF Mike Cameron to save Ellsbury's legs.

Mike Cameron made JD Drew look like Cal Ripken.

Boy Blunder goto go !

 

[Run DMC]

I agree !

Boy Blunder goto go !

He talks about Money ball and he spends as logically as a drunken sailor
on leave in the phillipines.

If you value OBP...... Why in the world would you sign Carl Crawford?
Larry Flint walks more than Carl Crawford.

I hear they run all of their decisions by a computer they call Carmine.
John Lackey never pitched well at Fenway...... so did the computer expect
that to change?


Eight years after it forever shifted baseball's tectonic - 09.26.11 - SI Vault





They say Ellsbury cannot play CF, so they sign a 37 year old CF Mike Cameron to save Ellsbury's legs.

Mike Cameron made JD Drew look like Cal Ripken.

Boy Blunder goto go !

Can't argue these points. Theo sucks.

 

[sdaniels7114]

Wasn't it announced that Francona is gone?

The Curly Haired Boyfriend says Henry's wanted him gone for a couple of years now. He uses instinct too much, not stat driven enough, is the supposed reason, which strikes me as bs. Anyway they have 'till the 8th of October to pick up their option for next year, so we'll know by then.

 

[resdubwhite]

The Red Sox winning it all in 2004 was in my lifetime one of the grat great sports stories.

I spent a summer in boston in 1999 and grew to love this team.

Tito helped to make that dream in 04 possible. For that I am eternally grateful.

Thank you very much Terry.

What you helped acheive will always remain with me

Safe travels.

 

[PatsDeb]

That's too bad. I like Tito. He was able to do what no one else was able to do in almost one hundred years, and that's bring a championship (2 no less) to Boston for the Red Sox. I don't know what happened this year with the clubhouse running amok as he always seemed to be in control there in years past, with some difficult guys. Good luck to Tito and thank you for 2004 and 2007. You helped erase a lot of heartbreak, but now it seems that the Red Sox have reverted to their former selves (losing in spectacular and heartaching ways).

 

[VJCPatriot]

AGon was a brilliant acquisition. Carl Crawford, not so much. Drew? At least he played well in a few series but he's way over the hill now. Youkilis went down with injury. Pedroia went down. And who's in right field again? Reddick has to convince me he wasn't a fluke. Scutaro is... mediocre at best. The only bright spot this year was seeing Ellsbury bounce back and blossom into a star. Bard looked unstoppable for a while but inexplicably fell apart.

And Tito, what did he have to work with... Batting Lavarnway 5th in the final game of the season. Really? Were we that desperate for bats? If only we had signed Matt Holliday instead of Crawford, I think this season would have ended on a different note. I have no idea what we're going to do about RF and SS but those needed fixed ASAP. I hope Big Papi will come back for one more because Lavarnway is not even close to ready and we already traded away Lars Anderson.

Oh Tito, yeah that guy. Won two championships. Really it's tough to hang this on him. I just don't think it's fair. He had very little to work with by the time the season wound down. I think Epstein deserves a lot of the blame. Tito had no HOSSES to put on the mound. Our pitching stunk, our lineup was depleted to injuries and there just wasn't enough to hold off the Rays. It's an epic FAIL yes, but this is an organizational fail. Can't put it all on Tito. Thanks for everything you've done man. You were a great skipper while you were here. But it's probably best to part ways now.