Wednesday, November 16, 2005

GM for the Red Sox? No thanks

It seems like every day someone else is saying no thanks to being the GM for the Red Sox. And I don't find that to be surprising.

Being the GM for the Boston Red Sox is tough at any time. Not only do you have to field a team capable of making the playoffs every year, you're going head to head against the team with the highest payroll in the league (Evil Empire/ NY Yankees).

But the real reason everyone is saying, thanks but no thanks? I don't even want to be interviewed. (Imagine if they were offered the job and had to turn it down later on!). It all comes down to the backlash still being felt from Theo Epstein leaving the Sox a few weeks ago.

Let's face it, whoever the Red Sox hire to fill Theo's shoes is (no matter what they do) going to be compared unfavorably to Theo. If they stumble at all, the pundits will be ripping them for not doing it as Theo did. If he/she (one candidate is a woman... Kim Ng) leans one way or the other between the old style or the Moneyball style, it's going to be noted that Theo was able to walk down the middle (walk on water).

Also, with the pitching in a tailspin (does anyone see some way of upgrading? I mean, the kids are good, but they are kids and will have good and bad days), the new GM is almost certain to fail.

Whoever the next GM will be is going to be treated like Joe Kerrigan and they know it. So I expect the potential candidates will keep on saying no.

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