Cubs Finally Get Their Man, May Not Be Done Dealing
By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 22, 2011 2:10PM
Talk about burying the news deep in the Friday cycle. Last night the Cubs and Boston Red Sox released a joint statement announcing Red Sox GM Theo Epstein resigned to join the Cubs as the team's new president of baseball operations.
It took long enough.
Because Commissioner Bud Selig wants no baseball news to overshadow the World Series, the Cubs will hold a news conference Tuesday to formally introduce Epstein's hiring. Boston will also hold a news conference Tuesday to announce the promotion of Ben Cherington as their new GM.
Epstein's resume reads thus: hired by Boston as its general manager at the tender age of 28, he rebuilt the entire organization by overhauling the Red Sox' farm system and making shrewd free agent signings to transform the team into a two-time World Series winner (and Evil Empire 1A to the New York Yankees' Evil Empire). But the Red Sox' monumental collapse this September started a domino effect that led to the departure of manager Terry Francona, the airing of some serious dirty laundry in the Red Sox clubhouse and making Epstein both vulnerable in the eyes of Boston ownership and available for the Cubs.
It was long speculated that Epstein wouldn't have left Boston for Chicago - the Dodgers were also a contender for his services - without a promotion in title. The Cubs requested and received permission to talk to San Diego Padres GM Jed Hoyer and assistant general manager John McLeod. Hoyer was Epstein's assistant from 2002 until he took the Padres GM position in 2009.
Negotiations between the Cubs and Boston for Epstein's services had been bogged almost from jump street by differences in compensation the Red Sox should receive for letting Epstein leave. The Cubs farm system is pretty bare, save for the crop of draftees signed by the organization in Jim Hendry's final act as GM. It's been speculated that Selig stepped in to help finalize the deal and compensation will be announced in the next ten days.
Maybe they can send Ronnie Woo Woo to Yawkey Way