GM Epstein extends contract & Team stays in Ft. Myers

From FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES

• November 4, 2008

Boston: General manager Theo Epstein signed a contract extension for undisclosed terms. ... The club will keep its spring home in the Ft. Myers, Fla., area for 30 more years.

11/04/08 1:38 AM EST
Epstein, Red Sox agree to new deal
GM has overseen two World Series titles during tenure as GM

DANA POINT, Calif. -- Theo Epstein signed a new contract to remain general manager of the Red Sox in just the fashion he prefers -- behind the scenes.

Epstein casually confirmed his new deal to several reporters as GMs gathered for their annual meetings on Monday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"That's done. It was taken care of a while back," Epstein told reporters.

Three years ago, Epstein's contract negotiations became uncomfortably public, as one news outlet reported an extension was done only for the GM to resign from his post the next day. But Epstein was able to work out his conflicts with upper management and was back on the job three months later.

Now, it seems that Epstein -- who grew up just a couple of miles from Fenway Park -- couldn't be any happier with his situation.

"When you sit back and think about being a general manager, this is exactly the type of organization you'd want to work for," Epstein said. "Great fans, great ownership and a tremendous foundation of our scouting and player development, which if we don't screw it up will lead to long-term success. We're all in this game to work with good people and to try and win a World Series."

The Red Sox, under Epstein's guidance, have won two of the past five World Series after an 86-year drought.

Epstein became the youngest general manager in Major League Baseball history when the Red Sox gave him the job in November 2002 at the age of 28.

At the time, Epstein vowed to turn the Red Sox into a "scouting and player development machine."

In short order, that's exactly what occurred. Under Epstein's watch, the Red Sox have drafted and developed solid players like Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jacoby Ellsbury and Justin Masterson. Epstein was assistant GM when the Red Sox drafted Jon Lester in 2002, and the lefty had a breakout season in 2008.

Only once in Epstein's first six seasons as GM have the Red Sox failed to make the postseason. That occurred in 2006.

His club won the 2004 World Series after trailing the arch-rival Yankees, 3-0, in the American League Championship Series, and becoming the first team in MLB history to come back from such a deficit to win a best-of-seven series. They went on to sweep the Cardinals in the World Series.

In 2007, the Red Sox again came back in the ALCS, this time from a 3-1 deficit, to defeat the Indians in seven games. They then swept the Rockies in the World Series.

This year, dealing with a barrage of injuries, they almost pulled off another miracle.

The Red Sox trailed, 3-1, in the ALCS against the Rays, and were behind 7-0 in the seventh inning of Game 5 at Fenway Park before scoring eight times in the final three innings to win that game and then knot the series by winning Game 6 at Tropicana Field. But Tampa Bay won Game 7, 3-1, denying the Red Sox a chance to become baseball's first repeat champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees won three in a row.

Epstein, 34, began his MLB career in the Padres organization.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

11/01/08 7:04 PM ET
Sox to stay put for Spring Training
New, long-term deal with Lee County calls for Fenway-like park

By Ian Browne / MLB.com

BOSTON -- After months of weighing their options, the Boston Red Sox announced Saturday that their Spring Training home will remain in the Lee County portion of southwest Florida for decades to come.

Since 1993, the club has been in Fort Myers, an area that has evolved into Red Sox Nation South over the last 15 years.

There will be three more seasons at City of Palms Park for the Sox, who will then move in to a new and more expansive stadium in 2012.

The new stadium -- though it doesn't have a precise location yet -- will be in the southern portion of Lee County, and more accessible to airports, shopping and fine dining than City of Palms Park.

"We have a radius," said Red Sox COO Mike Dee. "We've drawn the boundaries. Lee County is going to be going out to interested parties in the next week, I believe, asking for submittals and proposals over the next 30 to 45 days. We'll move quickly on this and identify a list of sites and pare that down to a shorter list of final sites and make a decision. We will have a seat at the table with Lee County in that process and any of the sites that are being considered will fall within those boundaries and parameters that we've identified."

Expect the new park to be a mini-Fenway Park of sorts, complete with a Green Monster and other things that resemble the historic ballyard in Boston's Back Bay that will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2012.

The Red Sox had spent plenty of time in negotiations with Sarasota about moving their operation there, but Lee County made a hard, late push to keep the Red Sox.

The turning point was on Oct. 28, when the Lee County commissioner's office voted 3-1 to build a Spring Training facility for the Red Sox, one that will now keep the club in Lee County for at least 30 years.

"I think the incumbency factor at the end of the day was a major consideration in making this final decision," said Dee. "It was a tough decision. We had great, great opportunity and a great community in Sarasota. We certainly want to thank them for reaching out and pursuing us so aggressively. I think the more we looked around, the more comfortable we became with where we've been and where we are today and we're looking forward to a long-term future in Lee County."

And one big perk of the new stadium -- and one the Red Sox were all but insistent on -- is that it will be in the same complex as all of the practice and Minor League facilities.

During their entire time in Fort Myers, the Red Sox have always opened Spring Training at the Minor League facility and then had to move to City of Palms Park a couple of weeks later when the exhibition season starts. Beginning in 2012, that will no longer be necessary.

So while Dee was the point man in the negotiation process, he said that the baseball operations staff also had plenty of input during the discussions.

"Very, very involved," Dee said. "Spring Training, first and foremost, I've used the analogy in the past, it's like starting your day with a good breakfast. Any good season starts with a great Spring Training experience. Programming this to meet the players' needs and to have a best in class facility for both the spring and player rehabilitation throughout the year was paramount to this deal.

"In the end, what contributed a great deal to our selection was Lee Country being able to combine and consolidate multiple sites into a single site and with the ballpark program that we identified, it's going to be a facility that, from a player perspective, will be second to none in all of Major League Baseball."

Though City of Palms Park has been a nice, fan-friendly venue in its own right, Dee vowed that fans would be even more wowed by what is in store going forward.

"Our top-line goal is to create the best Spring Training environment and experience in all of Major League Baseball," said Dee.

Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.