Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Toastseason -- this one's for you, Theo

It's past the postseason, but it's not quite Hot Stove time. Is this the offseason? Or could it be more aptly be dubbed the "Toastseason"? We're done with the championship toasts, now it's time for various front office men to become toast? I mean, this week, what do we have to talk about? GMs getting fired, GMs getting hired, or in some cases, GMs getting tired?

Theo Epstein decides to step down as Red Sox GM (and several Red Sox players say WTF).

It's been discussed already several other places, and I don't really have anything useful to add to the discussion. I could note that Theo was hands down the best-looking GM in baseball, or recount that I almost choked to death on a pretzel laughing during the 2004 World Series postgame show. A reporter asked him something like "So, where do you see the future of the club, Theo?" and he's soaking in champagne from random Sox who keep wandering by, and he's like "Dude, I don't know. In my future I see a beer." and then he walked off.

You know, a couple of years ago, I'm not even sure I could have told you most managers of major league teams, let alone the general managers. In Philly, I think I sort of knew who Paul Owens was when I was a kid, but that was about it. (I think it actually said "Manager: Dallas Green / General Manager: Paul Owens" on my 1980 Phillies World Series flag thingy, though.) And suddenly, the GMs are in the spotlight. I don't know if it's the increased awareness of the front office which occurs through the blogosphere and the web in general, or maybe it's just the Moneyball effect, but it's a little strange to think about. Most fans don't really care much beyond "Is something cool happening on the field?", but the front office is the man behind the curtain, trying to pull the strings to ensure that cool things *are* happening on the field. How much do we really need or want to pay attention to the man behind the curtain to appreciate the game? It's unclear.

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