Enter Theo
Epstein. Epstein, a graduate of Yale,
became the first of many young, well-educated, general managers with a
sabermetric mind. Epstein’s first job in
baseball was in the public-relations department for the San Diego Padres. It was there that he developed a relationship
with then Padres President and CEO Larry Lucchino. Lucchino, a lawyer by training, convinced
Epstein to attend and graduate from law school.
Lucchino understood that a Juris
Doctor would teach Epstein to think rationally and logically when solving
baseball problems. Epstein already
exemplified the characteristics Lucchino thought necessary to achieve high
status in a team’s front office.
Lucchino, who had achieved success with Baltimore and San Diego, was
grooming a protégé. Lucchino eventually
left the sunny California coast for snowy Boston and the historic Fenway
Park. Not surprisingly, Lucchino brought
Epstein along with him to Boston where he eventually ascended to the position
of general manager.
Once Epstein
established himself in the Red Sox’s front office, he began to evaluate his
staff and assemble his version of the Knights of the Round Table. Epstein knew that the sole way to create a
winning team on the field was to create a winning team in the front
office. His army of minds included Bill
James, Jed Hoyer, Ben Cherington, Josh Byrnes, Craig Shipley, Dan Lejoie, and
Jason McLeod. Epstein’s fraternity of
young baseball minds made the Red Sox best known not for breaking the curse of
the bambino, but instead a powerhouse club that is the only team to win
multiple World Series between 2000 and 2010.
Although the on-the-field success fueled the media, fans, and players,
Epstein’s front office showed the baseball world a new formula for
success. Almost every member of
Epstein’s crew is young, attended top-tier universities, and embraced the
“moneyball” method towards running a baseball franchise. The major difference between Beane’s implementation
of sabermetrics in Oakland and Epstein’s usage of it in Boston was that the Red
Sox were willing to spend money.
With an open
wallet and a clear plan, Epstein began building a winning team with the
capability to shock the world and end the curse of the bambino. Epstein accomplished this goal within 2 years
of taking the job with the Red Sox.
Then, in 2007, he replicated that result by winning a second World Series
and cementing his legacy as one of the greatest general managers of all time. He accomplished this all at only 33 years
old.
When Theo Epstein
became the President of the Cubs he caused movement amongst the front offices
in baseball. His departure opened up a
vacancy in Boston. The Red Sox recently
fired manager Terry Francona after an historic collapse that left them out of
the playoffs and searching for answers.
Soon after these events unfolded, Epstein bolted for Chicago, which left
the Red Sox with a number of gaps in their front office and in need of a new
direction. Instead of using their
considerable clout to attract big name general manager candidates, the Sox
focused on recent success and the need for stability. The Sox hired from within, propelling Ben
Cherington, an Epstein disciple, to become the Red Sox General Manager at age
37. Cherington attended Amherst College
and received a master’s degree in sports management from the University of
Massachusetts. He broke into baseball
with the Cleveland Indians as a scout and was hired by Dan Duquette, the
General Manager of the Red Sox before Theo Epstein, in 1997. He and Jed Hoyer served as co-general
managers during Epstein’s leave of absence in 2005 and facilitated the trade
for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell.
Cherington’s
Co-General Manager during Epstein’s short resignation from the Red Sox was Jed
Hoyer. Hoyer, like Cherington, attended
an excellent small liberal arts university and broke into baseball at a young
age with no major league experience.
Hoyer attended Wesleyan University graduating with a degree in history
joining the Red Sox in 2002 at the same time as Epstein. Hoyer is most famously known for traveling
with Epstein during Thanksgiving to convince Curt Schilling to accept a trade
to the Red Sox. Hoyer quickly moved up
in the Red Sox organization becoming Assistant General Manager. Not long after, his name began to appear on
lists of the top ten next General Managers.
“Hoyer has been at
Theo Epstein's right hand since the start of the Red Sox revival. Taking over
as Assistant GM after Josh Byrnes left to head up the rebuilding of the Diamondbacks, Hoyer was mentioned by nearly everyone asked
as "the next big thing."”[1]
Hoyer was rewarded
for his success in Boston when the San Diego Padres hired him as their new
General Manager in 2009. He turned a
75-win team in 2009 into a 90-win team in 2010.
Following early success in San Diego, Hoyer made the transition from
small market team to the big times when his former boss, Epstein, hired him to
be the general manager of the Chicago Cubs.
Jed Hoyer’s story
is very similar to that of Josh Byrnes.
Byrnes went to Haverford College, graduating with a degree in
English. Byrnes began his career with
the Cleveland Indians, before Dan O’Dowd hired him as an Assistant General
Manager of the Colorado Rockies. Epstein
recognized Byrnes as an asset to his squad and hired him as an Assistant GM of
the Red Sox. That same year, 2005,
Byrnes was hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks to become their GM at the age of
35. In 2 years Byrnes took a 77-win team
to the 2007 NLCS. His immediate success
was followed by some difficult years that led to his firing in 2010. Although his time in Arizona had ended, the
Padres quickly hired Byrnes as their Vice President of Baseball
Operations. Then, following Hoyer’s
departure for the windy city Byrnes became the next Padres General
Manager.
The Theo Epstein
boomlet has finally sprouted wings and begun to fly on its own. Epstein took a new style of thinking about
baseball, money, and ambition and changed the position of General Manager
forever. General Managers had commonly
been older former players, managers, and executives—not young, educated,
enthusiasts with sharp minds and full of confidence. Margaret Meade once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever
has.” Meade could easily have been
describing Theo Epstein and his disciples.
Epstein may still wear the crown in the GM world, but he has created a
new crop of forward thinking baseball administrators pent on using the Epstein
principles of management to turn losers into winners. Change the philosophy of scouting, drafting,
and evaluating talent, while simultaneously trading for and signing players who
fit their defensive, offensive, and pitching metrics. The Epstein effect has and will continue to
spread, changing the position of General Manager and the game forever.
[1]
The Next Ten Top GM Candidates by Will Carroll www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7683
Idea for a new statistic--WARGM.
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