Meet the new GM, same as the old GM.

The Sox announced that Theo is back in his old job yesterday. The Sox put out a very long press release explaining that they overcame the philisophical differences that caused Theo to leave in the first place, without explaining exactly what the differences were or what changed since Theo walked off the job in his gorilla suit on Halloween.

So here's my guess. The Red Sox have shown a tendency over the last few years to favor trading young talent for established veterans and signing free agents over giving kids from the farm system a chance. My feeling is that Theo wanted to change that philosophy, while Larry Lucchino wanted to continue the veteran route. I think Larry sees keeping the Sox competitive and the ballpark full key to the Red Sox other business plans for the Fenway area.

I think Theo eventually wants to turn the Red Sox into a team like the Braves or A's that constantly restocks through the farm system. He knows he can't do that if he has to keep trading away the cream of the farm system in order to fill short term needs.

Think about the last two Red Sox pennant winners before 2004. The 1975 team was loaded with guys who came up through the farm system: Carlton Fisk, Yaz, Rick Burleson, Rico Petrocelli, Cecil Cooper, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn and Dwight Evans. They filled in on the pitching staff with players acquired from other teams (Luis Tiant, Rick Wise, Jim Willoughby and others) and a few veterans like Bernie Carbo and Denny Doyle, but the core of the lineup were Red Sox farm system products.

Likewise, the 1986 team was loaded with guys brought up through the system. Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd and Bob Stanley anchored the pitching staff. The lineup included guys like Rich Gedman, Marty Barrett, Wade Boggs, Evans and Rice.

By contrast, there were very few significant players on the 2004 Sox that were Red Sox products. Once Nomar was traded, the only guy who came through the system in the Sox lineup was Trot Nixon.

I think Theo wants to get back to the internal development philosophy, especially now that he thinks he's got the players in the farm system to support it. I think a large part of the discussions over the last couple of months were to get a consistent philosophy in place for how the organization is going to utilize these resources in the future.