Let me start by saying I haven’t seen the question(s) that prompted this response, nor have I seen the context of the full interview. But like most baseball fans, I was kind of surprised to see Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter bashing Boston Red Sox executive V.P./General Manager Theo Epstein in print.
Showalter’s comments may seem innocent and innocuous to some, but to others it shows a lack of respect for someone who has helped to build one of the top teams of the new century.
Showalter in a print interview with Men’s Journal Magazine disparages Epstein by asking, “I’d like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll”. The Orioles manager goes on to add “you (Boston) got Carl Crawford because you paid more than anyone else, and that’s what makes you smarter”?
But Showalter like, most people should think before he speaks. Seems this man has managed three well-funded teams in his day. He guided the 1992-1995 New York Yankees, the 1998-2000 Arizona Diamondbacks and the 2003-2006 Texas Rangers prior to taking over in Camden Yards late last season.
In his time with those teams, Showalter has managed big payroll, superstars. Don’t let him fool you because now he has Peter Angelos pulling the purse strings. In New York he had such high priced talent as Wade Boggs, David Cone, Don Mattingly, Paul O’Neill, Darryl Strawberry, Danny Tartabull and Jim Abbott. What did it get him besides fired? A 313-268 record and one playoff appearance in which they got eliminated by the Seattle Mariners on Ken Griffey Jr.’s mad dash to the plate.
To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
The next season under new manager Joe Torre, the Yankees restore their dynasty (gag) and win the first of 4 World Series in 5 seasons and have a run under Torre in which they made the post season all twelve seasons he was the manager.
Then in Arizona, ownership outfitted him with Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams. All well paid vet’s who wanted to win they ended up 250-236 in three seasons and had only one playoff appearance to show for it. Guess what? He gets canned.
The next season the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series as Johnson and Schilling are named co-MVP’s of the series.
Well then good ol’ Buck ends up in Texas with the Rangers for the next four seasons in which time he once again manages some of the highest paid talent on the books thanks to Tom Hicks. Amongst the highly paid players under Showalter’s watch were Kevin Millwood, Sandy Alomar Jr., Chan Ho Park, Kenny Rogers, Carl Everett, Juan Gonzalez, Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez. He goes 319-329 in those years with no playoff appearances and where does he end up?
In Bristol, CT pontificating for ESPN. Meanwhile Epstein has gotten the Red Sox to two World Series titles, 4 ALCS appearances and the team has been in the playoffs in six of his eight seasons as the general manager.
So Buck, you wanna re-think who the smart one really is?
