Do we like Theo Epstein?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean run on harm and conduct, but little on the record about LGBTQ+ people or the planet either way.
Epstein is the bloke who ended two of baseball's longest droughts. He was born in New York, grew up in Brookline outside Boston, went to Yale and clawed his way up from a Baltimore Orioles internship. He became Red Sox general manager at 28, the youngest ever, and later rebuilt the Cubs into 2016 World Series winners.
The Cubs title was their first since 1908 and his third as an executive. Later he became a part-owner and senior adviser at Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox and Liverpool. He said he would not be the one making decisions in that role.
The nearest thing to a scandal is a 2019 civil suit by Arizona landlords, who alleged his dog stained their rental home and sought more than $51,000 in repairs. The Cubs called it baseless and said the family left because of a scorpion in the house. Epstein himself joked about it. The article we read doesn't say how it ended, so it stays an allegation.
On the harm check, we found nothing: no anti-LGBTQ+ words, no conspiracy theories, no culture-war grifting and no work with people who push that stuff. We also found nothing either way on climate or trans rights, so this is a pass built on silence rather than a stack of good deeds. When he spoke to Yale's class of 2017 he praised their diversity and tolerance and urged them to pick connection over isolation.
The recent story is a footy-club-boardroom squabble rather than a scandal. Reports say he was disappointed with the Red Sox's direction under Craig Breslow, his former protégé. Breslow said Epstein remains a sounding board, and Epstein told a podcast he'd deliberately stayed out of the public conversation. Whether he helped sack manager Alex Cora is a rumour we haven't confirmed.
On the good side, he and his twin brother started the Foundation To Be Named Later, a charity for disadvantaged kids in the Boston area, and ran benefit concerts for it. Nobody has accused him of being a boss to fear, either. That's a decent list rather than a glowing one.