He was on the road scouting amateur players. He was taking losses hard and finding the room for improvement in victories. One of the best untold stories about his intense competitive edge happened in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Tropicana Field. Jon Lester, then 24, was pitching for Boston against Tampa Bay.
Epstein marched into the scoreboard control booth and confronted the young man at the controls. They hated each other. He was Switzerland. Information was so crude back then the Padres prepared for the draft without a single statistic.
Two days before the draft, Epstein told an intern to call every major college program and have the sports information director fax over the team statistics. Why are we talking about him in the first round? Epstein was just one of a cadre of whip-smart young assistants and interns who turned the back room at the Fenway offices into a fraternity. It was freewheeling and creative, the antithesis of how the old guard was running the place. Port used a typewriter. He would tap-tap-tap out reports, clacking keys and throwing the carriage return when the bell sounded.
We try to get our best scouts have the best looks and more looks against better competition, more makeup information, the best medical information, the best statistical information. One of his first hires was Bill Lajoie, an old baseball man who built the last championship team in Detroit in It was a direct admission that Epstein believed in a holistic approach to baseball, not one bound entirely by numbers. Before his first draft as Red Sox GM, Epstein told Lajoie about how the Padres would rank as many as players before the draft, sweating over fine-line distinctions about who should be ranked, say, and who should be What did you do?
Twenty-nine other teams are going to take them. We got 12 of our Epstein ran highly successful drafts in Boston. He also commissioned an organizational manual of how he wanted the Red Sox to play and teach baseball. It also was his first order of business when he joined the Cubs. By the time Epstein reached Chicago, the rest of baseball was chasing numbers to find inefficiencies.
So Epstein zagged while they zigged. His proudest moment was when he walked past the visiting team weight room at Progressive Field during the ninth-inning rain delay of World Series Game 7.
Epstein was on his way to meet with MLB officials about a weather update. As he passed the weight room, Epstein saw his players gathered for an impromptu meeting. In a moment of crisis—the Cubs had blown a three-run lead with the World Series in hand—his players bonded together to pull each other up. Epstein said he likely would remain in Chicago, where his wife, Marie, has a business and his two sons go to school. He can remain in Chicago in his new role with MLB and still leave his imprint on the game without having to work seven days a week.
Skip to content. Latest Chicago Cubs. Most Read. Horoscopes Daily horoscope for November 12, Some within the industry have speculated that Epstein could have his sights set on the commissioner's office. He would certainly be an upgrade over Rob Manfred in some respects, like how he's viewed by the public and even by those who populate front offices. He would give the game a fresh, more-trusted face who had more media training and polish, too -- something it may need if the league and the union are unable to avoid a labor stoppage heading into You do have to wonder if Epstein would want the headaches that come with the job.
If he found working for the Ricketts exhausting, well, that's understandable. But would he want to have to answer to and deal with all 30 owners instead of just one? Would that really leave Epstein doing all right at doing all right?
It's hard to say. As for the other office … whatever you know or think about Epstein's politics is unimportant. He might find them convincing in a way that motivates him to run for some kind of office, or, as baseball reporter Craig Mish suggested on Twitter , perhaps to join an existing cabinet. Epstein, for what it's worth, said Tuesday he does not have any current plans to enter politics. The truth is nobody knows what's next for Epstein.
He probably doesn't even know. Maybe, in the year off, he decides that he wants to try to win a championship with a small-market club. Or that he'd like to give managing a try. Or maybe he tries his hand at screenwriting it runs in the family and decides he has better things to do with his time than fret over third-catcher options.
Whatever the case, Epstein's legacy in baseball is golden and unlikely to be forgotten. Nov 18, at am ET 4 min read. Watch Now:. Where will Theo Epstein land next?
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