Sean Holland makes the case the problem with the Sox is not the players but a general manager dooming the team to second place because he is no longer able to make good personnel decisions:

... The entire problem with Epstein's performance can be summed up by the bullpen. When he could have shown faith in the young guns by having them start the season with the big club, Theo instead chose to sign Julian Tavarez (5.13 ERA after the 2005 ASB) and Rudy Seanez (one healthy season since 1999). Once again, when Theo either could have stocked the team with veterans who could produce, or prospects who could prove useful, he chose neither. ...

Basegirl sums up:

... It's not like the man never makes mistakes. I think we can all agree that the Renteria signing was, uh, not his finest hour. And he'll make mistakes again. But in the end, we're willing to overlook them because he's Theo. ...

Whether this is good or bad remains to be seen. But it is what it is. And Red Sox Nation will sleep a little more soundly knowing that King Theo has been reinstated in his rightful position. ...

The devil you say seems to be how David at Blue Mass. Group sums it up:

And in other news, Lucifer will be rejoining the choir of the angels, explaining that the whole "evil" thing was just a big misunderstanding, and it's all been cleared up now.

For this one post, Beth could change the name of her blog to Cursed to Worst, because she skewers know-it-all sportswriters who have to rain on the parade of happy Sox fans instead of actually trying to discover new facts:

... I want to know the conversations Theo had, with John Henry, with his friends and family, with a player on the team, perhaps? I want to have been a fly on the wall. I desperately want to know what happened.

What I don't want is some sports columnist's opinion on whether or not what happened is a good thing. What I don't want is to see Dan Shaughnessy pitch a fit because essentially, he was in somehow on the Theo departure and / or can't stand to see Sox fans happy about anything. It's not useful to me, what they're doing right now. What I want is the story they're (deliberately?) ignoring. I want them to use the access their job affords them to get me that information, get it out in the open. Of course, that's the one thing they're never going to do, for whatever reason, and frankly, I despise them for this. ...

Dan, meanwhile, was amazed to see the CHB thinking he can give John Henry orders:

... Whatever happened to journalists who ask questions? ...

Nobody would ever want to pay me for my sports opinions.

A lonely Nation no longer turns its eyes to you, Theo Epstein.

Charley on Blue Mass. Group: I don't know what he'll be doing, but I like having him around. Best sports news this winter.

Red Sox Soul:Welcome to Theopolis!

I can't WAIT to hear the new title, although I'm pretty sure it's not Larry's Bitch...

Murray Chass declares: Lucchino: Just a Soul Who's Misunderstood.

Bruce wonders why a Times columnist would devote so much space to defending Larry. Part ownership of the Sox, perhaps? Bruce is willing to cut Chass a tiny bit of slack, but still, he asks you to imagine Gordon Edes writing a similar hagiography of George Steinbrenner. Hard to picture, no?

RallyCuff is having a hard time letting things go:

... The other day I walked out of the kitchen into the dining room to clock in for my shift and there, sitting directly in front of me, were John Henry and Larry Lucchino, chatting quietly with some other douchebag, and pretty much my first reaction was: "That other douchebag should have been Theo." My second reaction was: "Hey, fuck you guys." Then when they came back in later for dinner my third reaction was "Hey, how much fucking food are we going to have to comp your asses today?" In short, I'm pissed off. ...

The Professional Media Critic finally weighs in on Theogate. For the most part, Mark Jurkowitz's long piece tells you absolutely nothing you couldn't have read last week on, oh, Boston Sports Media Watch, although it could prove useful as a handout for new immigrants from Kansas or Mars who don't know why local sports fans keep cursing this Shaughnessy guy. Curiously, though, the one thought-provoking new idea comes all the way at the end, in the very last paragraph:

... How come with all the manpower devoted to covering the Red Sox from spring training through the playoffs, we never really got a whiff of the serious - and ultimately decisive - tensions between Epstein and Lucchino until the contract talks blew up? Isn't that something that journalists in regular contact with the team for more than six months should get wind of and make part of the ongoing coverage? These days, the exploits and activities of the Red Sox regularly make page one, the business pages, and even the gossip columns. Where were the city's aggressive sports media on what turned out to be the most important off-field story of the year?

But at least he did finally write about it. The other people who get paid to write about Boston-area media, the little tyros at the Weekly Dig's Media Farm, once again ignored the biggest media story in Boston, preferring instead to pick on silly headlines and quotes in the Herald and the BU student newspaper.

My standard newspaper disclosure.