From John Heyman on SI.com: People in high places in baseball are starting to speculate about whether this could be the last season together for the highly successful yet increasingly uncomfortable front-office tandem of GM Theo Epstein and president/CEO Larry Lucchino, and one logical ending would have Lucchino joining Manny Ramirez in Los Angeles. It's all speculation now, but it's not all that farfetched... Lucchino is said by people familiar with the just-departed Ramirez soap opera to have been much more committed to keeping Ramirez, no matter how badly the man-child superstar behaved and how much he risked undermining the clubhouse... Epstein was said by associates to have been upset about the leaking of an alleged story claiming Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, called him back an hour after the trade to try to have the blockbuster deal rescinded and get Ramirez back to Boston without the option years. It isn't known who provided this info about the alleged phone call... In any case, what upset Epstein was the unnecessary smearing of Ramirez's name.

I don't know where to begin dissecting and analyzing this article. So I guess I'll start where John Heyman does: by stating the obvious. Theo and Larry don't get along. For at least three years this has been apparent to everyone from the kids who go to the games to meet Wally to the pink hat chicks to Tom Caron, but suddenly to Heyman (a pretty fair reporter I might add) it's a scoop. Then he goes on to say that Lucchino is an arrogant, antagonistic a-hole. Again... tell us something we don't know.

Next let's look at the part of the story that's pure fiction: this notion that Lucchino wanted to keep Manny. There's no way that's true. I mean, I may have wanted to, but I never had to put up with the nitwit; I just liked to watch him hit. You just know a superserious, Type-A intellectual like Larry wanted Manny taken out to the middle of nowhere and left for dead years ago.

But it's Heyman's last point that I think is the crux of the matter. I have no doubt that Lucchino leaked the story about Boras' "Manny will play well with others" phone call, and that Theo was cheesed off about it. But not because he's worried about smearing Manny's name [chuckle], but because this is right off Page One of the Larry Lucchino Playbook: "When a player leaves, no matter the circumstances, leak stuff to The Globe that makes him look like a money-grubbing douchebag with rapidly declining skills in order to get the fans on your side." That might make the front office look better in the short term, but it does nothing to help you win championships. If you're wondering why Theo and Lucchino can't co-exist, the answer is right there.

Editors Note: Theo still hates Lucchino for making shit up about Nomar when he left. That's a fact!