So while the trainwreck that is the current Bush administration hasn't once moved me to post to this thing in the past couple delightful weeks, all I've been thinking about tonight is what to write about Theo Epstein deciding not to re-up as Red Sox General Manager. To the point that it's been difficult getting work done.

Reading the mostly apocalyptic ravings on SOSH tonight, I'm struck by how much of the opining savages Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, while absolving Theo the Boy Wonder of any blame.

I met Lucchino during the '03 season at a Yale Law School alumni dinner. He spoke his mind freely, was very engaging and open, and struck me as a totally decent guy.

I met Theo during the '04 season in the visiting dugout at the Oakland Coliseum. My buddy Kevin got us press passes to the Sox-A's game, and we were on the field during batting practice when Kevin walked up to Theo and said something to the effect of "Hey Theo, I just wanted to thank you. You gave me my first break when you were in the media relations department with the Padres and got me my first press pass to a baseball game, and I've been putting out this magazine ever since. So, thanks a lot..." To which Theo responded, "Yeah, great." Needless to say, I was a little blown away by what a prick he seemed like. Even noted douchebag Dan Shaugnessy made more time for me in the line for the press buffet, and I didn't even really want to talk to him.

While obviously this isn't the definitive character analysis of the parties involved, it does run counter to the assessment of most of the commentary out there, and it's the only first-hand knowledge I have. So there's that.

But if I were to speculate wildly, as is the fashion these days, on why Theo decided to spit, I'd say that he prolly felt that while he remained in town, he'd always be at least a little in the shadow of his mentor, Larry Lucchino (who was the one who'd given Theo that job in media relations when he was CEO of the Pads), and ultimately that he'd accomplished the pinnacle of what he could do with the 2004 World Champion Red Sox. I think Theo, with help of a 3/~5 contract, may have convinced himself to get over these two main things (and the fishbowl that the job is in Boston) when Dr. Charles Steinberg's press release came out in Shaugnessy's column last Sunday, and he changed his mind.

I don't think there are necessarily any bad guys here, just a bunch of self-interested egos. But I do feel that Lucchino is taking way more heat than he probably deserves. The biggest thing that pisses me off, tho, is that if Lucchino is so responsible for tying Theo's hands as GM, why doesn't he get more of the credit for the moves the Sox did/didn't make that resulted in three straight trips to the playoffs and a Championship?

(edit: Having just listened to Theo's press conference, the other thing that seems like it might have been an issue is whether '06 is going to be a rebuilding year for the Sox, which I think it should be. I wonder if Theo and the trio had differing opinions on that, and that contributed to his departure....)