It's hypocritical to say when things are going well, 'Interview me. Ask me how great I am. Ask me about family and personal life.' At some point later, when someone wants information and you want to draw the line, how do you do that?
You reach a point where you're trying to survive. You're just trying to put the ball in play. You're not yourself. You're searching for your identity as a hitter on a nightly basis. That's just really hard. And it is not atypical at all for players to need to change their environment in order to rediscover who they are.
Tolerance is important, especially in a democracy. The ability to have honest conversations, even if you come from a different place, a difference perspective, is fundamentally important.
I'm not going to try to deny that I'm a Red Sox fan. I grew up a Red Sox fan, had a great decade here that I really enjoyed, and that will always be a part of me.
I like to have some privacy, especially where my family is concerned, so when I'm recognized, I'll usually say something like 'I get that all the time' or 'Theo Epstein? Who's that?'
If the seller has a player that they think is going to have a lot of value, they're aware of it, protect that value. You have to go get it. That's the way the trade market works.
Bostonians vs. Chicagoans, they have different sensibilities, and I can only say this because I consider myself a Bostonian. You know, the Puritanical roots in Boston - the 'sky is falling' mentality a little bit. We could be on a great run, and we'd lose one game, and everyone's panicking.
The goals is to create a really high 'floor' for this organization, where the 'off' years are years where you might win in the high-80s and sneak a division or a wild card or win 90 games and get in and find a way to win in October. And the great years, you win 103 and win the whole thing.
Even over time, with a stable coaching staff and one manager who is fantastic and been in place for a long time, you can't ever defer and stay out of the clubhouse because you don't want to get in the way.
We try to do a great job of understanding the opposing hitter and his tendencies. Maybe understand the hitter better than he knows himself.
I think everyone deserves more than one World Series every 108 years so.
No one is immune to needing to sit or needing to go down at the right time, and you want to give guys a chance.
You just make the right baseball decision. You don't necessarily worry about somebody's feelings or anything like that. You make the right baseball decision for the team first and then for the player's development as importantly.
When I was writing or competing in individual sports, it felt unfulfilling and lonely. When I was able to find a group of people I believed in and liked, that all worked in pursuit of a common goal, it felt incredibly rewarding.
To win the World Series, you have to be able to do a lot of things well.
You have years where most things go your way, and you have years where more things than usual seem like a challenge.
The 'Chicago Sun-Times,' I remember, ran a full-page, front-page photo-shop of me walking on water across Lake Michigan, as if by showing up I was going to miraculously fix the team's fortunes. Imagine their disappointment, then, when I announced a long-term rebuilding plan focused on acquiring young players and winning in five years.
Typically, it takes young players years to adjust to life in the big leagues and to start performing up to their capabilities. Most of the blame for this rests on these ridiculous old baseball norms that say young players are to be seen and not heard.
When something goes wrong on the field, we expect our players to take the blame, step up, and proactively assume the blame for it, even if it's not their fault. That's the way to be a good teammate.
We knew the 2017-18 offseason would be one of our most challenging. We've known that for a long time.
