Boston Red Sox: What Would Theo Epstein's Departure Mean for Them?

Life without Theo. 

A once unthinkable scenario has become not just one that may become reality but one that some fans might even think would be somewhat favorable as well. 

Theo Epstein. The General Manager hired at the age of 28 in 2002 making him at the time the youngest general manager in baseball history.

The man who inspired tee-shirts that read " In Theo We Trust". Gone? To another team? In another market?

Seems totally unfathomable but then again so does blowing a nine game playoff cushion on September first. So does having a pitching staff with an earned run average of nearly 6.00 in September. So does losing the manager with the perfect 8-0 record in two World Series Appearances. 

It all seems like an outrageous suggestion especially when nearly every Red Sox fan and a good portion of the baseball world had the team on the fast track to the World Series in late March and then again in June once the team had righted the ship from a very rocky 2-10 start. 

Things didn't work out so well though and the dominoes have really started to topple since the season's unceremonious ending on September 28th. 

Life without Theo could manifest itself in a couple of different ways. Theo isn't a man without peers. He's a very good General Manager but he's made his mistakes in Boston and there are plenty of other General Managers and up and coming General Manager candidates out there who subscribe to similar "Moneyball" philosophies that espouse statistical evaluation coupled with a vision for the team in an effort to predict future development and performance and don't always use past performance as an absolute indicator of their future accomplishments. 

The Red Sox could delve into that pool. Some of them are older like original "Moneyball"  man Billy Beane and others are like young Theo's who are either itching for a shot at a GM job or would welcome an invite to a major market such as Boston. 

The Red Sox could also opt for a slightly more traditional General Manager. Someone cut from the mold of Dave Dombrowski in Detroit. As much as the Theos of the world have had success the Tigers are also a perennial contender.

Dombrowski is 56 years old. He's been general managing teams since the late 80's. In spite of his age he hasn't lost his ability to evaluate talent and that eye for talent has led to some very nice accomplishments over the years including the 1997 World Series title with The Florida Marlins.

It's worth mentioning that the 97 Marlins were also managed by current Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland.

Should Theo leave one thing is for certain. The heart and soul of the era from 2004-2008 which saw the Red Sox win two World Titles and also advance to the ALCS in 2008 will be gone. The new General Manager will step into a team who's players will enter next spring with the considerable weight of a massive September Collapse on their shoulders.

His mission will be to immediately rid the team of that weight. Like a closer following a blown save the returning members of the 2012 Red Sox must have short memories. They cannot allow last season's failures to impact their play on the field.

If that happens then the 2012 season is unlikely to produce another collapse but very likely to produce another disappointing third place finish.