Sox Name Co-GM's; Theo Return Still On Hold

The Red Sox officially ended their general manager "search" yesterday as Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherrington were announced as co-general managers. The general public of Red Sox Nation may not be well acquainted with Hoyer and Cherrington but they will soon see that both men are cut from the same cloth as former GM Theo Epstein. Both men worked in the Red Sox baseball operations under Epstein and their promotions should calm the masses who wondered what direction this franchise was heading in since Epstein walked away from the job on Halloween. Hoyer and Cherrington should be getting help on their new job from their former boss -- maybe even before Christmas. The rumors of Theo returning to the front office will not go away and the more you think about the chaos over on Yawkey Way, the more it makes sense. When Theo turned down his extension in October, he was making the statement that he needed more power within the organization in order to take it back to the the World Series. He was fed up with the meddling from President and CEO Larry Lucchino and it was a message to principal owner that either Larry butted out or Theo had to move on. Henry did not act fast enough -- for such a wealthy and smart man he seems to fear confrontation -- so Larry stayed and Theo escaped. But as the GM search that Lucchino was heading dragged on with no results, Henry may have finally wised up to the idea that Theo was the brains and that he could not live without him running the show. Hence, Hoyer and Cherrington (Theo's boys) are in. Hence, Theo is on the way back in (as Gerry Callahan reported in the Herald today, possibly as President of Baseball Operations). Hence, Larry may be on the way to Washington to run the Nationals after they are sold (as the late, great Will McDonough reported in the Globe before he passed). Red Sox Nation could now be opening the present of a unified front office, working towards another World Series championship, this Christmas.