“We’re gonna get right back to where we started from…”

Well, it’s officially official.  Theo is the "new" General Manager of the Boston Red Sox.  Funny how things go.  One minute you’re dodging reporters by wearing a gorilla suit,  the next you release a statement instead of holding a press conference announcing your return.

I love it.  LOVE it.

I’m not a fan who has ever had a problem with players or the front office avoiding the media.  Ever since this particular group bought the Red Sox, they’ve gone out of their way to make nice with the media and their players have done the same.  The thanks they get for that is daily bashing, second guessing and the likes of Dan Shaughnessy inserting himself into the story every chance he got.  But this FO pulled one over on the Boston sports media.  They actually put together a team that won the World Series.

Everyone wondered what Red Sox fans would do if the Red Sox ever won the World Series…lots of people suspected the fans wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if the team won it all…but we did.  We celebrated for a year and still bask in a warm glow when we reflect on the 2004 season. 

It was the Boston sports writers who didn’t know what to do with themselves.  Shaughnessy couldn’t write about a curse any more.  The other writers couldn’t claim Pedro, Manny or Curt negatively affected the team chemistry.  No one could write about how the Red Sox weren’t willing to do what was necessary to field a winning team, because they did.

So they started a campaign to antagonize the team and its players by reporting every wild rumor and accusation as fact.  Over the last year more and more Boston fans have either stopped reading the Boston sports pages, or at the very least they’ve started reading them the way most people read the National Enquirer.  Not many fans these days believe a word they read in the paper unless it comes from the mouths of one of the players or someone in the Front Office.

For the last couple of days, most of the stories coming out of Boston have been about how stupid Theo and/or the Front Office look…or how the FO should have told Theo to take a hike (or vice versa).  But read a poll.  Check out most of the Red Sox-related message boards or blogs.  The fans, the members of Red Sox Nation, the majority of them seem to be very happy about Theo’s return. 

Yet again, someone is in the Front Office (well, the SAME someone) who we trust.  Theo is, in a sense, one of us.  He loves the team and wants to do what’s best for them.  It’s Larry Lucchino’s job to make money for the team…it’s Theo’s job to field a winning product.  I trust Theo to make the right decisions…or at least the decisions he thinks are right (Yes, I still remember BH Kim – hey, no one is perfect). 

As long as he has the best interests of the team at heart, which I believe he does, I’m awfully happy to have him back.

Welcome back, Theo!