As the entire baseball world knows by now, Theo Epstein is leaving the Red Sox, as he has reached a deal with the Chicago Cubs on a five-year deal to basically get the Cubs to their first World Series since 1945.His Cubs deal his expected to net Epstein $15 million, along with a $5 million bonus. The only thing holding up the deal is what compensation the Sox will receive, as he still has a deal with the Red Sox for 2012. It is expected that the Red Sox will receive minor league players from the Cubs, and no one at the MLB level.
Theo's loyal assistant GM, Ben Cherington, is expected to take over as the new general manager once Epstein's deal is official. Cherington has been with the Red Sox since 1999, and along with Jed Hoyer (pictured above), was named co-GM when Theo took a powder and left Fenway in the gorilla suit in October 2005.
Here's a good, long look at Cherington in an article written by Alex Speier at WEEI earlier today.
And also being widely talked about today is Bob Hohler's article in the Boston Globe about the Red Sox infamous collapse of last month.
Read it and draw your own conclusions.
And here's Gordon Edes' take on Terry Francona being "the victim of the Red Sox front office's latest smear campaign."
Mr. Cherington's got a lot of work to do this winter.
