Time to Give Theo Some Props.

     I have been critical of Theo Epstein in the past.  I don't know that I eveer said or felt that he was a BAD general manager, but I know that I felt he was overrated, or not as good as he appeared.  But it is time to give Theo some credit, and I definitely do not have a problem doing so.  General Managers need four or five years to be evaluated, and that is what Theo now has under his belt.   

     There is an undeniable issue that is lingering with a GM in Theo's position, and that is the absolute FACT that he has more resources to work with than every other GM in the game, outside of Brian Cashman of course.  But even Cashman cannot be held responsible for everything he does, as he has an obsessive owner(s) breathing down his neck, waiting to tear down everything he has tried to build, just so that they can gain a few more wins this season.  Theo has and will probably continue to have plenty to work with.  But he has done a very good job up until this point, as far as I am concerned. 

     I, as a fan, was disappointed to see one of the greatest pitchers to ever throw a baseball walk away after 2004.  And I criticized it, because at the time I didn't know any better.  Let's just say that my baseball knowledge has evolved A LOT since then.  And because Theo let Pedro walk, he didn't have to deal with the injury issues that the Mets have dealt with, and of course paying Martinez a lot of money to do very little.  Now, I doubt even Theo could foresee THIS many injuries to Pedro, but Pedro has always had problems trying to staying healthy, and it was probable that those would get a little worse as he aged some.  And of course, Theo and his scouting department turned that compensation pick from Pedro into a very talented Clay Buchholz, who himself has ace potential.  But don't be oblivious to the fact that most early round picks don't amount to anywhere near what Buchholz is and should become.  Give it up to the scouts, etc, as they clearly know what they are doing, but with that being said, draft picks are from a sure thing. 

     Derek Lowe was another key contributor that Theo let walk.  Lowe had a down year in 2004, but came up very big in the playoffs that season.  But the Lowe contract was not bad at all for the Dodgers.  He is in the final year of his contract and has been an above average pitcher each year since he signed with L.A.  And $10 million a year is far from extravagant for a pitcher with Lowe's numbers.  This move wasn't much of a problem, and turned out nicely for the Dodgers.   

     The signing of Lowe's "Replacement" however, may be able to be criticized, but how much?  Before he was hit in the head with a baseball, he was pitching pretty well.  They may have signed a guy that didn't do much in a Red Sox uniform, but he was slightly younger than Lowe.  And more importantly, Clement was signed to a 3-year deal for $25 million.  Is that ridiculous?  Look, who knows how much the line drive in the head affected him mentally, but I am not going to hold Theo completely responsible for signing a pitcher who had made 30+ starts in six consecutive years, and then having him all of a sudden be ineffective and unable to stay healthy. 

     The biggest criticism of Theo Epstein is not addressing the SS position properly.  After letting Cabrera walk, Theo signed Edgar Renteria to a four year, $40 million deal.  I was very excited about this deal, and I will not throw Theo completely under the bus for this one either.  The Red Sox needed a hitter who could take that number two spot in the lineup.  Renteria was it.  And adding a RH bat that should have been able to utilize the Green Monster to his advantage, was not a bad addition.  Now, looking back, Renteria was never as good a player as I thought he was when he was signed, but that doesn't mean that he was terrible either.  Edgar was closer to an average SS than he was great, if one were to look at his entire career, and not just his 2002 and 2003 seasons.  But Theo signed Renteria during the ages of 29-33.  Meaning what?  That Edgar Renteria should not have been any worse than an average SS over the course of his contract?  33 is not old, especially in the last year of a contract.  And Renteria was not given the proper amount of time to redeem himself.  One sub-par season and he was shipped on his way.  All of the critics said Renteria could not handle the pressure that Boston presents, and that may very well have been true.  But part of it could and probably was due to the adjustment period one has to another league, and another city.  That city being any city.  I am a firm believer that had Renteria stuck around the following year that A) He would have been at least a little more comfortable B) That he would have been a better player the following season, regardless. 

     And in turn...This was probably the worst signing of the Theo tenure:  Julio Lugo.  At the time I was under the impression that the Red Sox were acquiring an average all around SS.  A player that could get on base some, and add a little power.  But either way, I felt that he was overpaid.  Letting Renteria stick around made a little more sense.  But the signing was made, nevertheless, and Lugo has been pretty bad so far.  His power has been non-existant and his defense, even with seemingly decent range, has been atrocious.  Range outweighs fielding percentage by far, but Lugo has been pathetic in his attempts to record a putout.  I for one am on the Jed Lowrie bandwagon.  Lowrie is 24, has somewhat limited range, but would be no worse than Lugo right now.  And of course Lowrie has a much greater upside at this point.  So if Theo admits to his mistake of signing Lugo and just gives the job to Lowrie, than he will have redeemed himself just a little.    

     The "dreaded" signing of the "emotionless" JD Drew:  I have been on record criticizing the length of this contract.  But it has grown on me, more and more.  I will not defend its length, and I know Drew will not be as productive a player in the remaining years as he is RIGHT now.  But signing a five tool player, who also gets on base as well as almost anyone in baseball, can't be as bad as it may have appeared.  Drew is going to decline some, little doubt about that.  But at least he can do everything.  If he loses a little from each tool, he can still do some things.  He will always be able to work a walk, giving him some use on a team that is focused on OBP.  It was better to sign someone such as Drew than signing some pretty good slugger who had only one positive attribute, right?  I am not defending the contract necessarily, but this one needs to play out to get a grasp of what it really means.  And of course JD Drew has always been a pretty good player, so it wasn't as if he was a scrub, as some make him out to be.  Oh, almost forgot one major part of this contract that Theo has been a little lucky with.  JD Drew has missed a little time, but nothing too terrible happened to his body yet.  I doubt that Theo could have seen that coming.  But even that was slightly overblown, as Drew had played in 145 games in 2004, then only 72 in 2005 after he broke his wrist on a HBP.  I will not hold that one against him.  Then he played in a 146 games the following year.  He is far from an iron man, but he is not a Nick Johnson-like-body-type either. 

     And on to the most important area at this point, but the one I am most skeptical of (not knowing how much effect Theo has actually had on who is drafted).  The Red Sox Farm system is absolutely loaded right now.  Who is responsible for this?  Is it the scouts?  Is it, in part, Bill James?  Is it Theo himself?  It is probably a combination of the three I would imagine.  Theo has given a chance for the scouts to look good by not trading everyone they draft to another team.  And as far as I am concerned, not trading for Johan Santana may very well turn out to have been "genius" move.  I am on board for not trading good prospects away in the future by the way.  And that is nothing against Johan, it is more so FOR the prospects that were held onto.  Jon Lester is becoming a good pitcher.  Justin Masterson may never be more than an average starter, or a pretty good reliever, but there is value in either of those.  Ryan Kalish has a bright future, or so I've heard.  And Jed Lowrie is better than our current starting SS.  Oh, and Coco Crisp is just about average, all around, too.  And he has been a large part of the incredible depth that Theo has created, depth that is rivaled by no one, and that includes all large market teams too.  But it all starts on the farm, every team should realize this now.

     Money can disguise some of what is bad from a front office standpoint.  So I don't know that Theo would be as great a GM if he were in an average market.  He most likely would not appear to be as good.  But he deserves a lot of credit for letting his scouts do their job.  He deserves credit for not overpaying for too many free agents.  He has so for a few, but it isn't as bad a some seem to think.  And of course he deserves much credit for helping the Red Sox win two World Series' while he has been in the front office.  There are some negative moves that can be focused on, but they are just miniscule details at this point, in what is the much bigger picture, that Theo Epstein is a good General Manager.  After all, doesn't every GM make a bad move here and there?