[BangTheBook]

Epstein to return as general manager

By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer January 25, 2006 BOSTON (AP) -- Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino were willing to set aside their differences for the good of the Boston Red Sox. The ballclub announced Tuesday that Epstein would return to his old job as general manager, with the same duties he had when he walked away from a contract extension on Halloween because of a falling out with his mentor.

"Theo returns as general manager to an organization that is different from the one he left on Oct. 31," Lucchino said in his portion of a 2,500-word statement issued by the team.


"The 14-year relationship between Theo and me, and the passage of time over the last three months, have helped to put behind us the friction that developed during last year's negotiations."

Once the youngest general manager in baseball history and still the only one to win a World Series in Boston, Epstein turned down a contract extension and left his dream job after a never-explained internal squabble convinced him he could no longer put his whole heart into it.

But even after leaving -- fleeing Fenway in a gorilla suit to avoid the encamped media -- Epstein remained in touch with his former colleagues.
After a halfhearted search to replace him, the Red Sox announced on Dec. 12 that Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, two of Epstein's former lieutenants, would serve as co-GMs.

Last week, the team said Epstein would return to baseball operations full-time. His return to the GM job -- he also goes from senior vice president to executive vice president -- was first reported by the Boston Herald on its Web site.

Neither last week's statement nor the one released Tuesday specified what led to the friction with Lucchino, though the club president alluded to an improved relationship between the business and baseball sides of the organization.

"Walls have crumbled, perceptions of one another have changed, and appreciation of one another has grown," Lucchino said. "As an enhanced sense of 'team' has emerged, we have rediscovered that, whatever our differences may have been, baseball is at the center of our operations and our lives, and working toward the success of the Red Sox is a commitment which all of us share."

Epstein said in his statement that there were "fundamental disagreements among members of upper management" about organizational priorities.
"This lack of a shared vision, plus the stress of a far-too-public negotiation, strained some relationships, including mine with Larry Lucchino," he said.

"Gradually, with the benefit of time and greater perspective, we tackled not only our personal conflicts but also the differences regarding our thoughts for the organization. We emerged, 10 weeks and many spirited conversations later, with the comfort of a shared vision for the future of the organization."

Hoyer's new job will be assistant general manager, and Cherington was given the title of vice president of player personnel. Bill Lajoie stays on as a special adviser for baseball operations, and Craig Shipley was named vice president for international scouting and special assistant to the general manager.

Hoyer and Cherington acknowledged that they knew when they took the GM job that Epstein was expected to return. They were told then what their roles would be, Red Sox owner John Henry said.

"So this is hardly a demotion," he said. "It is a fact that Red Sox baseball operations have been and will continue to be a collaborative process that its members enjoy."

Much of the media coverage of Epstein's departure focused on a power struggle between him and Lucchino. Henry said those reports were untrue.
"It was simply mythology," he said. "I can assure you as we move forward that Larry's role has not changed at all, and no general manager in baseball could ask for more autonomy than Theo has."

Last week's confirmation of Epstein's long-anticipated return was hailed by those who credit him for assembling the team that won it all in 2004, ending Boston's 86-year title drought.

"Theo's back. That's all I care about," pitcher Curt Schilling said Tuesday morning in a radio interview transcribed on www.boston.com. "That's all any of the players care about. I would like to think that he's in more of a situation that he wanted when he left.
"The way I look at it is, there were a lot of issues that were unresolved that he felt he wasn't going to compromise some things and be here, and those things changed over the last 10 weeks. And they changed, and he came back."