Theo Epstein, the general manager who helped bring a title to Boston, now heads to Chicago to bring home a trophy to Wrigley Field. He inherits some high-priced stars like Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano, and a young double-play combination with exciting potential in Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney.
Building a championship contender may be more difficult for Epstein in Chicago, where ownership has not traditionally spent as freely and where the absence of the designated hitter makes building a versatile bench an absolute necessity. But the Red Sox have issues of their own, as revealed in their fall from grace in September, and new general manager Ben Cherington is tasked with sorting out that mess.
Both franchises have some roster rearranging to do, but in two of the best baseball cities, with two of the game's historic parks, a rise back to greatness shouldn't be far away. Epstein's goal is to lead the Cubs to a World Series crown for the first time in more than a century. Cherington's goal is the beat him there.
