Beyond this year, Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein "swears he hasn’t given thought to what he might do next," according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Theo's twin brother, Paul Epstein, said, "A lot of people seem to think he’ll do something outside the sport of baseball. Given his passion for the game, his love of the game of baseball, his skill at doing things within the sport, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a baseball lifer." With the Cubs' World Series win this past season, Theo Epstein "had a spot reserved" for him in the Baseball HOF and "joined the likes of Branch Rickey in the conversation for baseball's greatest executives." If there is such a thing as a "drop-the-mic moment for a baseball executive, last fall's World Series was it." Epstein is in the first year of a five-year, $50M contact extension. Epstein: "There’s a lot more work to be done here. If we go and have four bad seasons now, I’ll feel like I didn’t do my job -- I didn’t do my whole job. We’re trying to turn this place into a perennial contender and hope to win multiple championships." It is still "hard to imagine topping what Epstein already has accomplished in Boston and Chicago -- and to imagine what's left for him to do in baseball" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/31).
ROLE MODEL: YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Passan writes under the header, "Raised By Theo Epstein, The Diamondbacks' New Brain Trust Tries To Copy His Success." D-backs Exec VP & GM Mike Hazen and Senior VP & Assistant GMs Jared Porter and Amiel Sawdaye "worked together in Boston under the tutelage" of Epstein, and they "learned as much as they could from the most successful baseball executive this generation." All three see Epstein as a "model for running an organization." The question is "just how well Epstein’s system works without the Epstein part," particularly in a NL West already "loaded with strong teams." Hazen: "Theo’s hands down the smartest person I’ve ever worked with, but there was so much more to it than his intelligence. It’s how he builds front offices and coaching staffs. He does that and mixes it in with a ridiculous IQ, too. You can’t take that IQ with you. But watching what he does, being a part of what he was doing, you see every hire is important. Every personnel decision -- coaches, scouts, front-office hires -- is important. Every single hire" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/31).
