Minor League Team Offers Ex-Sox Boss Epstein GM Job
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BROCKTON, Mass. – It didn’t take long for Theo Epstein to get another offer to be a baseball general manager – if he doesn’t mind cuts in his salary and the team payroll.
The independent Brockton Rox, who play 30 minutes south of Fenway Park, offered Epstein their GM job yesterday.
The team, which plays in the Canadian-American League, is restricted to a total player payroll of $87,500 – a bit less than the major league minimum of $316,000 per player and far below Boston’s $126.8 million payroll this year.
Current Rox GM Andy Crossley basically dared Epstein to replace him.
“If the Rox can get Theo Epstein to take this job, great. All I can say is, good luck signing Manny Ramirez on our budget,” Crossley said. “We signed Emmanuel Ramirez as a pitcher last season, but we paid him about $800 a month.”
One warning for the 31-year-old baseball boy wonder, though: “We don’t actually have an office for Theo,” Rox president Jim Lucas said. “But we built two new cubicles this year and he’d have his own phone and access to the internet.”
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YANKS HIRE PENA Former Kansas City manager Tony Pena was hired by the Yankees yesterday as their first base coach and said he likely would withdraw as a candidate to manage the Dominican Republic in next year’s inaugural World Baseball Classic.
After he left Kansas City last spring, Pena said he wanted to lead the Dominicans in the 16-team tournament that will be played from March 3-20.
Pena was hired as Royals manager in May 2002 and was voted AL Manager of the Year in 2003 after leading the team to an 83-79 record, its first winning season since 1994. He quit May 10 after an 8-25 start that left his overall record with Kansas City at 198-285.
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NATS TRADE CASTILLA TO PADRES
Third baseman Vinny Castilla was traded by the Washington Nationals to the San Diego Padres for right-hander Brian Lawrence and cash last night.
The 38-year-old Castilla, hampered by knee tendinitis, hit .253 with 12 home runs and 66 RBI in his first season with the former Expos.
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ALOMAR UNRETIRES Roberto Alomar was reinstated from the voluntary retired list yesterday by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and filed for free agency. Alomar, a 12-time All-Star, was just 276 hits shy of 3,000 when he retired on March 19. The 37-year-old second baseman filed for free agency to preserve future options rather than with the specific intent of playing next year.