Theo Epstein Year Quotations

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.

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.

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

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 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.