It's been over a week since Theo Epstein's departure as general manager of the Boston Red Sox. Was losing Theo a huge blunder by Red Sox ownership?

We really don't know right now. If the Sox hire a competent replacement and they continue to win 90+ games a year and consistently compete for the playoffs, then it wasn't. If they take a nosedive, then it is. But we won't know for two or three years. I think that you can only truly judge these things in hindsight.

So, presented here for your consideration are my choices for the ten worst management moves in Red Sox history. These are front office moves, not moves on the field. Other than the first two, they are in no particular order.

1. Selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees: This one has been discussed, dissected and analyzed to death, so I won't repeat any of it here.

2. Not signing Willie Mays: This one stands in as a proxy for all the poor decisions made by the Red Sox because of the racist bent of Tom Yawkey's ownership. Here's the basic story: in 1949, the Red Sox top minor league affiliate was the Birmingham Barons. The Barons' owner also owned a Negro League team, the Birmingham Black Barons. Willie Mays played for the Black Barons, and the owner gave the Red Sox the inside track on signing him to a contract. The Red Sox sent a scout to Alabama to see Mays, but it rained for several days and the scout decided that he didn't want to wait around to see this black kid play. The New York Giants signed Mays, and he went onto a career as arguably the best position player of all time.

Of course, the Red Sox didn't have an African-American player until Pumpsie Green came to the team in 1959, twelve years after Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Just to make my point, here is what the first two teams to break the color barrier did. The Dodgers, after signing Jackie Robinson, won National League Pennants in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956, winning the World Series in '55. The Cleveland Indians, who signed Larry Doby as the American League's first African-American later in 1947, won the AL pennant and World Series in 1948 (defeating the Sox in a one game playoff). They were also one of only two AL teams other than the Yankees to win a pennant in the '50's. They lost the 1954 World Series to the New York Giants led by (who else?) Willie Mays.

3. Losing Carlton Fisk to free agency: The Sox general manager, Heywood Sullivan, failed to mail Fisk his contract in time for the 1981 season, making Pudge a free agent. Fisk, who had already had a great career with the Red Sox, played another 13 years with the Chicago White Sox. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

4. Jeff Bagwell for Larry Anderson: Bagwell was traded to the Houston Astros just before the trading deadline in 1990, as the Red Sox needed another relief pitcher for the pennant run. Andersen ended up pitching 15 games for the Sox, saving one as the Red Sox took the American League East title. He pitched three innings in the ALCS against the A's, giving up two runs. The A's swept the Sox and went on to be beaten by Cincinnati in the World Series.

Bagwell, of course, has had a probable Hall of Fame career with the Astros, winning the NL MVP Award in 1994. This is widely regarded as the move that Red Sox GM Lou Gorman will never live down.

5. Sparky Lyle for Danny Cater: Sparky Lyle, a relief pitcher for the Red Sox, was traded to the Yankees for first baseman Danny Cater during spring training in 1972. Lyle became a top-notch closer for the Yankees, winning the AL Cy Young Award in 1977. Cater played three seasons for the Sox, never played more than 100 games and hit a grand total of 14 home runs over three years before being traded to the Cardinals.

6. Replacing Joe Morgan with Butch Hobson: The Red Sox fired Walpole native Joe Morgan after the 1991 season and replaced him with former Sox 3rd baseman Butch Hobson. Morgan, a career minor league manager (including a long stretch with the Pawsox) took over from John McNamara during the 1988 All-Star break. The Sox immediately went on a huge winning streak which is still remembered as "Morgan Magic". The Sox won the AL East that season and won again in 1990.

Hobson, who was considered such a hot managerial commodity that the Red Sox felt they had to get rid of Morgan so that they wouldn't lose him, didn't exactly live up to his billing. The Red Sox tumbled into last place, and finished below .500 under Hobson, who was finally fired 115 games into the 1994 season. The lasting image of Daddy Butch is him running in the outfield with Roger Clemens, while Clemens is wearing headphones.

7. The "twilight" of Roger Clemens career: This is the one people will never let Dan Duquette forget. Clemens left the team as a free agent after the 1996 season, eventually signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox made a token, half-hearted offer to Roger. On his way out the door, Duquette said that Clemens was in "the twilight of his career".

We should all have such twilights. Four Cy Young Awards later, Roger just helped to pitch the Astros to the World Series this season. You could make a strong argument that he is the greatest pitcher of all time.

8. The trade of Earl Wilson: Wilson was traded to the Tigers in June of 1966. He went 22-11 for the Tigers in 1967. Think the Impossible Dream season might have ended on a different note if the Sox had both Jim Lonborg and Earl Wilson at the top of their rotation in the World Series against St. Louis?

9. Cecil Cooper for George Scott: Cooper, a promising young first baseman, was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for George Scott after the 1976 season. The Boomer, a beloved figure in Boston, was on the downside of his career at this point. He did hit 33 home runs for the Sox in 1977, but slid quickly after that and was out of baseball by 1979. Cooper, on the other hand, played 11 seasons for Milwaukee, had five All-Star appearances, compiled a .298 career average and led the league in RBI twice.

10. Signing Byung-Hyun Kim: The Sox, in desperate need of a closer after the failure of the "closer by committee" experiment in 2003, traded Shea Hillenbrandt to the Arizona Diamondbacks for their closer, Byung-Hyun Kim. BK, as he was known, pitched respectably for the Sox and helped them win the wild card in 2003. After the season, Theo signed him to a $10 million contract, with the intention of converting him into a starter. Unfortunately, the experiment was a disaster, with Kim only pitching seven games for the Sox in 2004. Further, he managed to alienate his teammates and even gave Red Sox Nation the finger when he was booed during introductions at a game at Fenway Park. The Sox traded him to Colorado before this season, eating most of his inflated salary.