Are Francona, Epstein Coming To Chicago?
(WSCR) As the Boston Red Sox completed the worst September collapse in the history of baseball Wednesday, fans on both sides of town in Chicago couldn't help but have a smile on their face.
Rumors were swirling even before the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs that manager Terry Francona and general manager Theo Epstein could lose their jobs in Boston because of the collapse.
Well, the White Sox happen to be in need of a manager and the Cubs happen to be in need of a general manager. And, according to Damon Amendolara from 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston, at least one of two are likely to be out.
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"Fair or unfair, Francona, I think there is a very small percentage of odds that he's going to be back," Amendolara said on The Boers and Bernstein Show Thursday.
The host cited a Peter Gammons report from last week in which the MLB Network analyst said Francona was managing for his job.
"Guess what? Peter Gammons and Theo are best buddies and they play in a charity band together so we know where that came from," Amendolara said.
He also mentioned a Sports Illustrated report from Jon Heymann, which said Red Sox management was unhappy with how passive Francona had been during the slide.
"And yet, we haven't heard any leaks on Theo's job security or the players' accountability," Amendolara said. "It's all been at Francona so I think they're going to use him as a scapegoat."
That could open the door for Francona to join the White Sox. He has ties with the franchise, having managed in the organization's minor league system for several years in the early 1990s, including managing Michael Jordan on the Birmingham Barons.
As for Epstein? Amendolara doesn't think the Red Sox want to let him go and even if they did, he doesn't see how the homegrown Epstein could leave the current mess.
"If he left to go chase another job, he would be looked at as the ultimate you know what," the radio host said. "I mean, how can you leave this? You spent all this money. You got all these guys. And now you can't fix it up?"
Amendolara added that the Red Sox might want to take away some of Epstein's power, however, which could make the Cubs job more enticing.
