Missing Theo

The plan was to write about game five, which I have been watching again, and again, over the past several days. Celebrating once more the heroic effort of the bullpen, and a second consecutive mythic performance by David Ortiz. But events have upstaged me; Theo has left. So before I can revisit the joys of last October, we have to reckon with this fall’s events.

The new look Sox: no Pedro and no D-Lowe; no Cabrera, who wasn’t exactly old look Sox, but had certainly worked his way into my heart last fall; and also gone is that fabulous 2004 bench, including Pokey; Roberts, and Mientkiewicz. And now with Theo gone, what will happen to Damon, Millar and Mueller? And of course, will Manny be Manny somewhere else? Hard to imagine.

The Boston papers were all over management, faulting ownership for a series of blunders that had led to Theo’s departure. More telling in my mind, however, are the openly negative comments from players, including Ortiz and Schilling. The papers get to pick sides if they like, and it’s often hard to distinguish between fact, what we used to call the truth, and spin. But when someone like Ortiz is unafraid to express publicly his disdain for management, it suggests that things won’t go well when it’s time to renegotiate. Keep in mind that Theo had signed Ortiz to a remarkably modest contract, yet Papi is now defending this guy who arguably cost him millions, by locking him up at a very reasonable cost. If it’s all about money the next time around, I question whether the Sox will be able to pay enough to keep him in Boston. I had thought that Pedro bolted, not over money, but over his desire not to share the spotlight with anyone else. In retrospect, I now wonder if management had a hand in all that.

So our new saying, “Wait till last year,” now has more meaning than ever before. I’m hoping that somehow in 2006, we’ll once again be having post-season dreams. But it may be that 2004 was just that – a dream. Are we back to reality?