I've been reading up on the Theo saga and it's pretty interesting; they've got quite a soap opera going on up in Boston now. There's a lot of angles on this and some big implications, especially since the Sawx have some big free agents entering the market. Here's a compliation email I get that covers several points and will get you all caught up if you care... (Credit to SportsBusinessDaily.com)
WHAT “SOURED” THEO? In Boston, Michael Silverman notes Epstein declined the Red Sox’ offer for a three-year contract extension worth $1.5M annually. Sources said that a “key factor that ultimately soured Epstein” was a Sunday column by the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, “which revealed too much inside information about the relationship between Epstein and his mentor, [Red Sox President & CEO] Larry Lucchino, and slanted the coverage” in Lucchino’s favor. Epstein believed that Lucchino was “a primary source behind the column and came to the realization that if this information was leaked hours before he was going to agree to a long-term deal, excessive bad faith existed between the two.” Despite a report in Monday’s Globe that Epstein had agreed to the contract extension, Silverman wrote he “had not made up his mind about accepting the job before going to bed Sunday night” (BOSTON HERALD, 11/1).
CONFLICTED INTEREST? Much of today’s debate around Epstein’s departure centers around the New York Times’ ownership of the Boston Globe and its 17% stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox, Fenway Park and 80% of NESN. In Boston, Scott Van Voorhis writes media experts believe that the Globe’s reporting “raises serious questions about the role these ownership ties may have played in the paper’s reporting” on the Epstein-Lucchino issue. Media Access Project CEO Andrew Schwartzman: “It is an inherent conflict of interest. There is a tension between the demands to generate business synergy and the increasing pressure that media companies have to maintain public trust.” Timothy Karr of the media watchdog group Free Press added, “This is the problem with conglomerated media. When the ownership of media companies have separate interests ... there is a tendency to compromise the reporting” (BOSTON HERALD, 11/1).
TRAGIC HERO: In Boston, Gerry Callahan: “No one is ever going to think of Theo as the bad guy. He looks, if nothing else, like a man of principle, a guy who didn’t like the way his bosses were going behind his back and spoon-feeding stories to their favorite newspaper. ... Theo believes Lucchino and Charles Steinberg violated the agreement [to keep his contract negotiation private]. They did their best to make him look like he was just trying to cash in, and he did the opposite” (BOSTON HERALD, 11/1).
MORE FALLOUT: The BOSTON GLOBE’s Snow reports Red Sox Special Assistant to the GM Bill Lajoie “resigned within minutes of Epstein doing so” and it is “possible that other baseball operations employees will also exit, especially given that” Byrnes left to become D’Backs GM and will start to assemble a staff. Red Sox Senior Baseball Operations Adviser Bill James intends to stay (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/1). ESPN’s Gammons: “There’s a very good possibility with Theo leaving that most of the front office will depart and go to Arizona as well” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 10/31).
PLAYER RELATIONS: Red Sox P Curt Schilling said Epstein “wanted more control of a team that had his name on it, and they wouldn’t give it to him. I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t give the [GM] what he needs to put this team together. This is going to have a dramatic effect on our team” (BOSTON HERALD, 11/1). Free agent 1B Kevin Millar: “It’s a huge loss for the Red Sox.” Free agent CF Johnny Damon: “Who’s going to be calling the shots? Can we put a GM in place right away? Maybe it’s going to be Lucchino who tries to iron out the free agency and tries to figure out what team we’re going to go with” (MLB.com, 10/31).
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