Their respective teams and fans may not like each other at all but Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and Yankees GM Brian Cashman have a friendship away from the game. They not have a normal friendship like you do with your best friend considering the work for the two teams in the biggest rivalry in sports. Maybe you could call them frenemies like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. One things for sure, they are both pretty good at what they do.
One month after Cashman came up to Boston for Hot Stove, Cool Music, Epstein returned the favor as the pair were part of a guest lecture at William Patterson University in New Jersey last night. Before they answered questions from the audience the two spoke with the media on hand.
Here are a few quotes from the two general managers:
“I deal with all 28 teams,” the Yankees’ Cashman said with a wink when asked about his negotiating strategy, pointedly leaving out the 29th team, Boston. “Then, when I’m about to hang up with the 28th team, I say, ‘Hey, do you know what Boston’s up to?'”
“We’re just trying to build a team that can compete in the toughest division in baseball,” Epstein said. “Baseball’s a long season and it’s fairly humbling, and once you start that kind of talk, bad things can happen.”
“Until someone takes that away from them, they’ll have that swagger,” Cashman said. “When they step on the field in spring training, they’ll know what they can do because they’ve done it. That’s important.”
As you would expect, some of the questions were serious nature while some were funny. The biggest question from the audience was about baseball steroids policy.
It’s odd to see this two together let alone be friends, but it just shows you that the hatred for the two teams is only on the field for these two gentleman.
GMs trade quips, share friendship [SI.com]
