Theo Epstein Quotations

We're in a position, if we play well over this weekend, we'll get in. If we don't, we probably don't deserve to.

We're not going to speculate on any timetables. The most important thing is to get Coco healthy so he is 100 percent and can help this team win. We're lucky to have depth at that position.

We're not going to speculate on any timetables. The most important thing is getting Coco back healthy, so he can get back to 100 percent.

We're forever indebted to them. Someone, I'm sure, won't be back. It's appropriate to thank them for their contribution and wish them the best going forward. That said, we're not saying any goodbyes right now.

Throughout November, (owner) John Henry, (owner) Tom Werner, Larry and I held discussions to see what lessons could be learned in the aftermath of my departure. Gradually, with the benefit of time and greater perspective, we tackled not only our personal conflicts but also the differences regarding our thoughts for the organization.

We were a strong club. We took on so many holes because of injuries. With those gaps we got to a certain performance level . . .

We have him as one of the top guys in all of baseball. He's very sure-handed, consistent, with good range and he's fun to watch play shortstop.

Since Red Sox fans are so intense and baseball's a long, 162-game season, it helped that this team was as loose as it was, ... If this team was as intense as its fans, it could have been too serious, too overbearing for everyone.

No, I am not burned out, ... I have tremendous passion for the game. I have tremendous dedication to the game. I believe that I will find myself in a position of leadership with an organization again in the future, but I have no immediate plans. My goal for the rest of this week is to help the organization with the transition and to help the baseball operations staff that I care so much about get ready for the general managers meetings.

Ninety-five wins is nothing to laugh at. All the resources of this organization are going to be dedicated to trying to win 11 more games.

I'd like to see them applaud him in recognition of all he accomplished here. We wouldn't have won the World Series without him.

I don't know where we would have been without him this year.

From a personal standpoint, I really admire Bronson. I have gotten to know him really well, and that made it difficult. From an organizational standpoint, we owe a lot to Bronson ..I think it?s safe to say we would not have won the (2004) World Series without him. He?s handled himself with a huge amount of class on and off the field throughout his time as a Red Sox.

I don't think you ever want to see your team struggle. I think the fact that we had to overcome adversity during the regular season probably helped us.

I don't think it's predestined. This season for a lot of teams in a lot of ways has been about survival. We've both survived in probably the most difficult division.

If someone else wins it, they must have had a very special season. I hope he wins it.

He says that when he covered first base, he kind of felt it give a little bit.

He helped us win. That's the bottom line. He really did something selfless to help us win.

We think he's above average offensively and defensively at a premium position.

had a lot of honest talks in that last week, reflecting on ourselves and the organization and the job, and whether it was right for me and for the team.

He's a very important part of the team. When he's pitching well at the back end of our bullpen it really allows everyone to fall into place.

He just has a bit of a tired arm,

I think in the long run it will turn out to be a very good development year for him. He's far ahead of most members of the 2004 draft class.

I think the future is bright. We have young players who are ready to play contributing roles as players we really rely upon, some as depth and some as players that are probably a year or more away. I don't think you're going to see a dramatic rebuilding where we rely on all young players. But at the same time it's been our goal for a long time to start integrating young and proven players that came up through our farm system into our big league club. I think you'll see more of that next year.

I think the first year in Boston can leave you feeling like you need to take some time off and you need to get away a little bit. He was a little bit taken back by how passionate the fan base was here. You expect a guy that's played in New York to make a seamless transition to Boston. But it was tough on him. He couldn't go out. I think he used the word 'hermit.' We know David doesn't like being a hermit. I think he'll need to go to his ranch and get away and think about that, how to deal with the hermit lifestyle.

I think there are a lot of factors, ... One is the first round, it's only five games, you do have that off-day, and then you look at sort of how the rest of your staff is constituted. We think we're covered in a variety of situations. Obviously, if we play four 15-inning games, we're going to be scrapping. I think, realistically, we're in pretty good shape with what we have with our 10 guys. I think we're more likely to go with 11 in subsequent rounds.

Larry and I like each other. As with any other working relationship there are complexities, there are ups and downs.

Ironically, Theo's departure has brought us closer together in many respects, and, thanks to these conversations, we now enjoy the bonds of a shared vision for the organization's future that did not exist on Oct. 31.

My relationship with Larry is one that spanned about 14 years; we've had a very successful working relationship,

I think he feels that obligation to come into camp in great shape next year.

I think Manny is obviously a huge part of this club. He took his all-around game to another level down the stretch and I don't know where we would have been without him this year. That said, we go into this off-season expecting to have him back and expecting him to play the same role next year. Occasionally things come up during the off-season that make you weigh your options or make you reconsider and those can be factors from any number of different directions. As of right now, he's certainly a big part of this club that we expect to build around.

You just try to make the most of every single opportunity in the postseason. We weren't able to do it this year.

We put our best foot forward and made an offer that makes sense to the club. We think it's a fair and generous offer.

We don't think 11 pitchers are really necessary in a five-game series, especially with the way we line up. We like our pitching staff.

Well, we don't really want to get into exactly how many runs we expect to score, but I think it's safe to say that our expectation is that we'll allow fewer runs than we did last year. There might be a chance that we score fewer runs, too. The key is differential.

We have a handful of guys ready to step in,

We'll see how the roster shakes out, but we could also send him down and let him get some at-bats to get himself straightened out.

We'll see how our roster shakes out, but Choi does have minor-league options if we want him to get everyday at-bats in Triple-A for a period of time.

We were satisfied by what we found out. Numerous times, he was, well, very assertive.

You have to believe in every aspect of the job and the organization and your ability to stay and do the job the right way, with your whole heart and your whole soul. And in the end, it just wasn't the right fit.

We want to win 95 games next year and get back into the postseason. We want to try to do that every year,

We've had a very successful working relationship. I think Larry and I like each other. As with any long relationship, there are complexities. ... But in the end, I want what's best for Larry. He's done a lot for me. I owe him quite a bit, and I take that to heart.

You have to go on how a guy feels. His knee felt great in Spring Training. It's hard to say if he was ready or not. He's not ready now. He was feeling really good. Now he can't even take the ball. You've got to deal with it.

This year, for a lot reasons and for a lot of teams, has been an exercise in survival. Getting past the attrition of a long year for a lot of different reasons. We both survived in probably the toughest division in baseball to get to a point where whomever wins that series will probably get in. It doesn't matter how we got here. It's what we do the rest of the way.

We trust this guy's makeup. He's a guy we're very comfortable with on the mound.

We felt that there's probably no one on the planet better suited than Doug to do this. We had a chance to get him at a reasonable cost. So that made sense to us.

We think investing in Coco was a wise move.

We should have all the details. I know they spoke, but I don't know what was said yet.

There's a fine line between winning and losing in the postseason. We got outplayed in October, and that happens. And if it happens for three games, you're going home.

I understand there's been some interest in talking to me over the last couple of days, as evidenced by the cameras outside my house and the fact that I left in a gorilla suit the other day, ... That thing's getting itchy, so I thought I would just come here and try to answer your questions today.

The way our bullpen has been, this will be a good opportunity for us. If he gets on a roll, and throws strikes, he has a chance to really help us. We don't have a lot of strikeout-type stuff up and down our 'pen. This is a chance to add a guy with a great arm.

The schedule says we play at the end and the standings say we're pretty close and those games will matter, ... Both teams have survived the toughest division in baseball and whoever wins the series will probably get into the playoffs. They might be the only one.

These concepts of vision and togetherness are only words if we don't live up to them. We understand that our actions are much more meaningful than our words.

said a beaming Faxon, his smile Kennedy-like in its width and charismatic luster, ''which I don't really care about.

Coco Crisp is not Johnny Damon. He's his own player. He brings his own strengths.

Coco Crisp is not Johnny Damon -- he is his own player. He brings his own strengths. Johnny was an outstanding, elite leadoff guy and center fielder for us for four years. It's unfair to ask Coco Crisp to fill those shoes. He's going to go and do it his own way.

A situation may arise where he's a better option than what we have. There aren't too many guys you can bring in under these circumstances and be sure they won't be afraid.

That's why they pay you guys the big bucks, ... To find the polysyllabic word for this.

This is one of those contract negotiations where it all came together because we have a player who means so much to the organization and has done so much for the organization and he wanted to stay in Boston. David said it early on, and he meant it. It came together very quickly.

They're always wary of what's around the corner.

It was a time of personal conflict. We had discord.

It might be the greatest game ever played. I'd like to hear other nominations. We were just joking around, that might have been one of the greatest at-bats ever, to end the greatest game ever played.

I took very seriously the responsibilities of turning the Red Sox into a championship organization and playing a role in that process, ... We did accomplish that. There's a lot more work to be done here. It's sad for me to leave more work to be done. I feel like we're in a very good position for the future with the farm system that these guys have built. I'll watch with admiration, respect and good wishes from afar as they go forward.

For about 14 years, we've had a very successful working relationship, ... I think Larry and I like each other. As with any long-term relationship, there are complexities. There are ups and downs. There are times when you have philosophical differences. But I owe him quite a bit.

It's making more of it than it was. It's been sort of a non-issue all along. I'm glad he feels good about staying.

It's an opportunity for them to get a little bit of big-league experience, see how the guys go about batting practice, ... The way they get their work in. It all fits together. Big league. Instructional league. We're all part of the same organization. These guys are not that far away. Last night is a good example.

That remains to be seen. We have as many as seven starting pitchers, but those things have a way of working themselves out during the course of the camp.

It's not a sign of panic or desperation, there's no downside to this at all. He might be the right guy in the right spot this weekend.

It's not fair to attribute my decision to any one factor or any one person, ... There were many factors that went into the decision.

It's not a pattern you want to fall into. Our backs are truly against the wall. It's the personality of this team to not do things easily.

It's been less than an ideal year, but under the circumstances he's made significant contributions.

Not according to our training staff. He's just having a bad month.

It was a fair trade because there was tremendous talent on both sides. The Red Sox are getting more established talent, but the Marlins are getting tremendous upside talent and affordable talent. One side was paying a lot more money in exchange for the more established players. They weren't perfect prospects and we weren't getting perfect players.

The issues had nothing to do with the chain of command, per se. I'm happy with the chain of command.

Ten years from now I think people are going to look back and say Willis Reed pulled a Curt Schilling...Willis Reed scored four points. Curt Schilling went seven innings against one of the best offenses of recent memory. No offense to Willis Reed.

Josh Bard is a catcher with excellent defensive tools and someone ... whose best days are ahead of him. He's not coming off his best [offensive] season, but we still think there is some ceiling on him. He has outstanding makeup and calls a good game. [He's] a solid receiver with a plus arm, and he's going to be coming to camp with a chance to open some eyes.

It truly feels great to be a Cub today,

Even idiots can grow up a little bit. It should be a bit more subdued. ... The first celebration should be subdued, and the fourth one should be crazy.

The (Jays) did a great job of executing a game plan. You can't always think four or five years ahead. Sometimes you have to take advantage of an opportunity to win now. They made themselves a lot better and are very squarely on our radar screen.