Kudos To Theo

A baseball career is not made in a few appearances. But the sparkling pitching debuts of Manny DelCarmen and Jon Papelbon in the past week have shown Red Sox Nation that all of the chatter about the farm system may be for real. In addition to DelCarmen and Papelbon, the Sox are extremly high on shortstop Hanley Ramirez, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, pitchers Jon Lester, Anibal Sanchez and Abe Alvarez, catcher Kelly Shoppach and outfielders Mickey Hall and David Murphy among others. Some of those "others" include 2005 draft picks Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen and Jed Lowrie. The future of the Red Sox is definitley promising. And we have general manager Theo Epstein to thank for that. Epstein is not alone in building the farm system -- he has a great staff of scouts and personnel men to assist him -- but his job is not just to bring in the right players. He also is responsible for keeping the right players in the Boston system. Teams look to trade veterans to contenders in exchange for their valued prospects. Teams like the Red Sox are usually so concerned with the here-and-now that they do not mind parting with promise of tomorrow for the results of today. The trouble in that is that today isn't always what tomorrow could be. For example, the Red Sox could have traded prospects for Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff. Huff is a good hitter with some pop that very well likely would have given the Sox a boost at the plate. But in no way is he an impact player -- one who would vault the Red Sox past their fellow contenders (at least not on paper). And in return Theo would have been sending away talent that could very well be the Hall-of-Famers of the future. But Theo didn't pull the trigger on a deal that could have strengthened the major league club in the short term while at the same time crippling the Red Sox of the future. He likes his team as is --they are in first place in the A.L. East -- and didn't want to risk his talented minor leaguers for the likes of Huff. That is what separates him from many of his fellow GM's.