Theo Epstein; Greatest Baseball Executive Ever

[Slasher9]

Elston Howard, NYY 1955.

Pumpsie Green, BOS 1959.

To count breaking a curse as more important than breaking the color barrier is losing sight of history. Only 2 other teams had a black player on their team 2.5 years later! Only 6 teams had black players by early SEPT 1953!

It's quite possible that enormously important things happened before we were born or started watching baseball.

now come on moon. i never said it was "more important". the decision that Branch made had massive implications, but as a GM to want a player of Jackie's ability playing for your team is not a terribly hard decision.

[Spudboy]

I realize this is a debatable point. But I think that a lot of what makes Theo's accomplishment with the Cubs such a great one is the burden of expectations that it was done with. From the moment it was known that he was going to the Cubs, the story was in place - the guy who broke the Red Sox curse is now going to try to do the same for the Cubs! Building a playoff team wasn't really good enough - it was trophy or failure. That's a pretty big ask.

When you really think about it, it's not any bigger of an ask than a new GM taking over where a team is not in good shape.

A lot of work to put people in play to change things. All types of moves to upgrade talent and to win more than previously.

The Fact that Theo had a storied past was something that changed the level of hype and the story line.

The actual work done was nothing extraordinary.

[Bellhorn04]

By the time this discussion is over, Theo will suck LOL

[moonslav59]

I realize this is a debatable point. But I think that a lot of what makes Theo's accomplishment with the Cubs such a great one is the burden of expectations that it was done with. From the moment it was known that he was going to the Cubs, the story was in place - the guy who broke the Red Sox curse is now going to try to do the same for the Cubs! Building a playoff team wasn't really good enough - it was trophy or failure. That's a pretty big ask.

The story was a great one.

From a fan's perspective, what Theo did was priceless - twice!

From a GM's perspective, he had a big budget to work with, and with the Sox a nice foundation to start with.

Theo's the greatest I've seen, but history shows others are at least as good, if not better.

[moonslav59]

now come on moon. i never said it was "more important". the decision that Branch made had massive implications, but as a GM to want a player of Jackie's ability playing for your team is not a terribly hard decision.

Did Theo get death threats for signing Lester?

Signing Jackie was an extremely difficult decision.