When we win, he could do no wrong. When we lose, he still could do no wrong ( but there has been much rumblings on some of his decisions ). I can say, without a doubt, that people have overlooked nearly all of his bad decisions that he has made during his Red Sox tenure.

You will hear some of the whistle-while-you-work-blowers on WEEI. They will call up and Theo-bitch, and seldom these occasions are ever on the radio. These calls don’t receive much merit, because a lot of the people who have hard criticism of Theo Epstein have correlated their arguments in some way toward Manny Ramirez’s departure and the Bill Simmons article on the hypocrisy of the Red Sox front office.

Pete Sheppard doesn’t want to hear this. Michael Holley doesn’t want to hear this. Mike Adams sure as hell never wanted to hear this. “This” being that Theo Epstein fucked up when they decided to let Manny Ramirez go.

The same retort of bringing up the Manny ordeal is now correlative with bringing up the search of WMD’s in Iraq: it doesn’t matter, because it is in the past.

The evidence that Red Sox fans can use against Theo Epstein was never validated, even though the controversy was well-constructed by Bill Simmons, and now the argument had a statute of limitations that can never be resurrected.

The Manny Ramirez Argument Needs To Be Resurrected. But Not Because Theo Epstein Fucked Up.

Theo Epstein, and parts of Red Sox management, had long wanted to have Manny Ramirez off the books. And the trade delivered us another top-10 hitter in baseball in Jason Bay, as well as closed the books on looking for another left-fielder for years to come ( Manny was 37, none of us could expect him to keep doing steroids and hold his prime much longer ).

But I have been staunch in my perception of the trade:

If the Red Sox don’t sign Jason Bay, they will have made one of the worst decisions in the history of baseball. Period.

There is no way that you can spend 30 million dollars for two right-fielders you can’t keep, only to have one ( Manny ) play for a title each year on the West Coast, and the other ( Jason Bay ), play for a title in your own division. This can’t be what You, I, or any Red Sox could’ve thought of for the future of the Red Sox. To be honest, this couldn’t be what the front office could’ve predicted, either.

It would be equivalent if the Yankees traded Alex Rodriguez, paid off his contract and traded him to the Marlins for Hanley Ramirez, and then let Hanlet Ramirez walk away to Beantown a year later.

Can this be about Money?

This whole case about the front office not wanting to spend so much on their field team is a baseless argument. 25% of the money they could’ve give Manny Ramirez or 33% of what they could give Jason Bay they gave to John Smoltz ($5,000,000). The other third and half of the power-hitter funds went to Brad Penny ($5,000,000).

Julio Lugo’s contract is still on the Red Sox books, although Theo Epstein has called the signing “a lesson learned”. Is Epstein turning a new leaf building our team for 2010 and beyond? Maybe.

But the reasoning that the Red Sox are cash-strapped, at least for composing their personnel for 2009, doesn’t make a lot of sense. Now, if they are deciding to pull back on their salaries for the future ( we do know Henry vouches for a salary cap publicly), they will have to do much better on fielding a proper team. Any mistakes in contracts ( such as Smoltz, Lugo, Matt Clement etc. ) will cripple our team this side of Jon Lester.

Seeing the team post-Manny: it just isn’t as good. And holding onto Manny wouldn’t have done anything, since his talent would’ve waned way before their youngsters fully blossoms (Lester and Buchholz).

Long-term Success

Jason Bay is a premiere hitter. This was a guy who had a nagging hamstring injury that held him stagnant for nearly 40 games statistically. He still ends up with 36 homeruns and 119 RBIs. He isn’t as intimidating as Manny Ramirez, but he can be. He can be a threat to the Yankees. He can be a threat to the league’s top pitchers. He can be the long-term solution to the Red Sox outfield power needs.

Letting him go would be the worst thing the Red Sox can do in putting out a championship team. Not only would it hurt their World Series chances, but it would upgrade their nemesis, the Yankees.

Do you possibly believe Jason Bay is going to find his home somewhere out of the AL East? If so, do any of us believe that he will end up on a team that we won’t meet somewhere down the line in the playoffs? Matt Holliday would be another great replacement, but are we willing to put up the $13-15 million to keep up with the Pinstriped-Joneses?

The Future of the Champions, or the Serfs

Victor Martinez was probably the best long-term pickup Theo Epstein has ever pulled off. He pushes a great bat into the lineup, is a great catcher, and will probably increase his DH role as David Ortiz wanes or is let go in the future.

Dustin Pedroia, The Greek God of Walks, The Lefty Monster ( Jon Lester ), Clay Buchholz, Ellsbury. The core for the Fenway favorites is solid for the next 5-7 years. But the price of legitimizing our contention for the World Series will not be set unless the power hitter in right-field is kept or replaced.

Against the Angels in this ALDS, our hitting was over-matched by good pitching, and this might be the sign of the times. We may never put out a home-run mashing team like we had in the past few years, but our hitting is ok enough. To keep it at this level, we have to keep the bats we already have, or fear another offensive collapse in the future.

We can say we don’t have the money for the bats, but we risk becoming the Blue Jays. The success of the Red Sox hinges on Jason Bay. It is in his signing, or in his departure, that will define what our fan-base received for the enigmatic Manny Ramirez, and the Bay decision will define the direction of American League East for years to come.

Theo Epstein and the Red Sox front office: Don’t fuck up.