All-Aughts Team of the Decade GM: Theo Epstein

Was there any doubt? The Boy Wonder is clearly Boston’s GM of the Decade, taking the job over officially for the 2003 season.

2000-2001 was the death throes of former Boy Wonder Dan Duquette, who was responsible for bringing Pedro Martinez to town, and … that’s about it. Duquette sometimes didn’t understand how to properly construct a roster or interact with the media. In his defense, he did put together solid postseason-caliber teams and had a deft hand in picking players up off the scrap heap. (Bret Saberhagen, Troy O’Leary, etc.)

2002 was with Mike Port at the helm as interim GM although some have said that Epstein was the one running things behind the scenes.

Whatever the case, Boston courted Oakland GM Billy Beane heavily following the 2002 season, and a deal was thought to be in place. The contract was a go. Oakland’s compensation (Kevin Youkilis) was a go. And then… Beane got cold feet. California was home. He pulled out, and Boston was left without a GM.

Payroll Pressures

With arbitration cases kicking in, payroll comes to the forefront of team concerns this week. While the Red Sox only have 4 arbitration cases left to settle, we can start to look at the overall payroll concerns going into 2010 and beyond. 2010 is supposed to be our “bridge” year, but is 2011 really when the Red Sox completely reload?

Cot’s Baseball Contracts lists the Red Sox payroll commitments, and a handy spreadsheet breakdown for the next 4 years as well.

Evan’s article yesterday laid out some basic figures for the four arbitration eligible Red Sox. While his figures for Delcarman, Ramirez, and Hermida seem solid ($1M, $1.5M, $3M) I have more reservations about Papelbon, considering the “favor” he wants to achieve for his fellow closers, and think his case will invariably go all the way into arbitration, where he’ll get close to $9M. I have a feeling he’ll ask for at least $10M, especially after he thinks he should be getting Mariano Rivera-liek deals in free agency.

Currently, the Red Sox payroll stands at $149M, taking into account all new contracts, leftover payments for former players (like Lugo) any options exercise upon contract termination (Wagner, Alex Gonzales) and monies received form other teams (via Seattle for Bill Hall).

Adaptation and working the market

Since Moneyball was published in 2003 there has been a clear misunderstanding of what the book meant. I’m sure much of this is by people who never read the book, but perhaps some who missed the message. The message that is spread and widely understood is that Billy Beane was a huge proponent of OBP and that that wins games. If you ask anyone at a baseball game or on a sports talk show what was the point of Moneyball 90% will say OBP. Of course that 90% will also say that Billy Beane wrote the book.

So what was the point in a cliff notes version? Learn what the market has failed to value and use it to your advantage. As of the writing of the book OBP was a largely ignored stat and teams were viewing players like Adam Kennedy as quality players for a solid batting average. This made a market for Beane to attack and he did so effectively. The problem is teams adapted and not only followed his model with greater finances, but also stole his staff.

The Red Sox’s Christmas List

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays to everyone!

While I celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah, there’s no denying the holiday that stops America in its tracks — that’s Christmas. That’s why I’ve chosen Christmas as the holiday of choice to reveal certain Red Sox personnel’s holiday gift lists that were acquired in some unseemly ways. And away we go…

Epstein warning fans about Sox downturn in ‘10?

In Sunday’s newspaper, the biggest caution flag on the 2010 season yet was tossed.

This offseason, one of the hottest debates surrounding the Red Sox is if the team should “go for it” this year — ala sign Matt Holliday/Jason Bay, pull off a blockbuster trade, so on and so forth. The flip side of the argument was waiting until 2011 where there’s a more competitive free agent class, an increased likelihood of a blockbuster trade and a farm system whose window is 2011-2013.

My opinion has been that the Red Sox are going to stand pat and play out 2010 with their club largely intact along with no major changes.

Whether you agree with it or not, it seems as if this is exactly what Boston is going to do.

What John Henry Can Learn From Belichick’s 4th and 2

Sure, this is a Red Sox site, not a Patriots one. But, we would be remiss if we ignored the lessons of the greater Boston sports community for lack of a baseball diamond.

Whether or not you agree with Belichick’s 4^th and 2 call is irrelevant. The interesting part of the move is that Belichick actually did it. While the credit goes to Belichick for making a gutsy call – whatever credit is left to go around after the loss – should go to Robert Kraft. There are very few organizations in any walk of life, let alone sports, that foster a culture where a coach can take a risk like Belichick did – and not worry about job termination in the event of failure.

Theo’s “95-Win Team”, Beckett’s Extension, Falling Dominoes, and the Mailbag

Theo’s “95-Win Team”

In recent years, one of the most important axioms put forth by the Theo Epstein and the Red Sox front office is the law of the “95-Win Team”. According to this directive, the team’s goal is to target 95-wins annually in an effort to compete every season. This is really a great piece of wisdom, as a team that wins 95 games will make the playoffs most years. In fact, the Wild Card winner since 2003 – the first year Theo took the esteemed office of Red Sox General Manger – has averaged a record of just about 95-67.

However, this doctrine relies on one major assumption – that this team will always be able to perform up to their expected level…

Josh Beckett’s Extension

Over the past few days, rumors have been circulating that the Sox and the Josh Beckett camp have been discussing a contract extension. Adding fuel to the rumors, Beckett and agent Michael Moye have indicated that there will be no hometown discount for the Sox, so the team will have to be ready to shell out quite a bit of cash.

Introducing the FireBrand Mailbag

And, finally, introducing the FireBrand mailbag, where we will answer all of your darkest, most burning questions about Red Sox Baseball. If you would like to ask the writers a question to be answered on the site, please forward your inquiries to Mike_Silver_FireBrandAL@yahoo.com.

Red Sox represented in All-Decade honors

The Sporting News released their All-Decade honors today. The Red Sox were well-represented with David Ortiz winning DH of the decade, Theo Epstein GM of the decade and your beloved [...]

Pressing Questions For The Second Half

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With the unofficial second half of the season set to kick off with Clay Buchholz much-anticipated 2009 debut on Friday night, it seems like an appropriate time to gauge where exactly the Red Sox stand and how they stack up going forward in this years campaign. With the best record in the American League and a three-game lead on their hated rivals, even the most pessimistic Sox fan has to be fairly impressed and satisfied with the Red Sox first half performance.

Role Reversal

Words cannot possibly describe how much I despise the New York Yankees.
I hate them more than the Jets and Cowboys, more than the Lakers and Knicks, more than the Canadiens and Rangers, more than Duke or Notre Dame. Combined. I always insisted that if you stare close enough at the Yankees logo, one can easily see a swastika form.