One of my friends thinks Theo Epstein is an overated GM.

[Joe Tall]

Recently he responded to me after reading this article:

On Boston.com/sports

With this statement:

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Acquire a SS incapable of performing in Boston (Renteria) and deciding after one year to trade him to another team (Atlanta) while I pay a significant portion of his salary. And in said trade I will acquire a prospect that is nowhere near as talented as his hype (Marte) from a team (Atlanta) that never trades away quality prospects , and ship said prospect to another team (Cleveland) for our CF of the future (Crisp) who will supposedly replace the leadoff capabilities of our current leadoff hitter (Damon) but in turn he will turn out to be a slap hitter with very little slap, and somehow has an even worse OF arm than Damon, which is not easy to do..........and then I could compound the SS mess by lusting after a shortstop (Lugo) who is below average defensively, and can't hit anywhere near his salary level. Question: Would you have rather had Lugo or Alex Gonzalez as your SS this year? We KNOW Gonzalez is miles better defensively, but go surprise yourself and check out Gonzalez's HR and AVG. numbers this past season.

Or I could give a corner outfielder (Drew) with no corner OF power a 75 million dollar contract, while negotiating against NO OTHER TEAM for his services. Remember what Drews other offers were? That's right, there weren't any other offers.

Or I could trade an emerging #3/4 starter (Gabbard) and an emerging #3 OF (Murphy) for a closer who has not been dominant for the better part of 4 seasons, never pitched in the pressure of a large market, and ask him to perform in a role (Setup) that he has never performed in, and see how that works out (not well)

Or I could trade a RP (Meredith) who goes on THAT season to become one of the most dominant setup men in the NL, AND also throw in a young, good hitting catcher (Bard) for a backup catcher (Mirabelli) who is so bad, he has not belonged in the major leagues for several years. What, you don't think there is ANY other catcher than can catch a knuckle ball? Cash looked fine to me.

Or I could go on a vacation/hiatus/pouting break and stay away just long enough for a great baseball mind like Bill Lajoie to pull off a great trade that will later save my ass, acquiring two cornerstone players (Beckett, Lowell) of the 2007 World Series team.

Or I could misread the market and put up an extra 12 million dollar posting fee for a japaneese pitcher, knowing full well that no Japaneese pitcher has performed to an all star level consistently in the U.S.

It would be soooooooooo wonderful to learn all those outstanding skills. And it would be even better to have an endless supply of money to cover up those mistakes.

So far, Ellsbury, Papelbon, Lester, Bucholz look like legit players. So there you have it, I have found Theo's true talent. He would make a nice little farm director.


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Who's side are you on?