 |
| (NBC Sports) |
With the capture of
Jon Lester, Cubs President
Theo Epstein has finally gotten the "monkey" off his back—so to speak. He doesn't need a gorilla suit anymore to escape the shadow of his former mentor,
Larry Lucchino. In fact, he
bested Lucchino in the pursuit of the prized free-agent lefty—which
had to be sweet revenge. Some pundits are claiming that
now the pressure is truly on Epstein—that somehow landing Lester will unrealistically inflate expectations on the North Side. The
truth is that Epstein has been cool under pressure for
years—making daring deals, staring down uber-agents, and delivering World Series Championships. He'll be just fine. We always thought that Theo was the only member of Red Sox management that
truly "got it". The interlopers paid lip service to "The Red Sox Thing", but Theo
lived it. Every day of his life. We wish him the best with his newly-fortified Cubbies.
