Red Sox hire youngest GM in baseball history

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox made 28-year-old Theo Epstein the youngest general manager in baseball history Monday, ending a long search for a front-office leader by promoting one of their own.

The Red Sox had been without a permanent general manager since Florida financier John W. Henry bought the team in spring training and fired Dan Duquette.

Mike Port was interim GM for the season and was a candidate for the long-term job that went to Epstein. The team said Port has been invited to remain as vice president of baseball operations.

Epstein, who was raised near Fenway Park in suburban Brookline, became director of baseball operations for San Diego in 2000, when Red Sox president Larry Lucchino was running the Padres. Epstein also spent two years each in San Diego's media relations department and as a baseball operations assistant.

"The Red Sox are very much in my blood, which makes this -- standing here today as the new general manager of this club -- a humbling experience," Epstein said at a Fenway Park news conference.

Randy Smith, previously the youngest GM, was 29 when he was hired by San Diego in 1993.

"We concluded that the right person was right before our eyes," Lucchino said. "We believe this franchise will benefit from a new structure and fresh philosophies."

Epstein said his immediate goal was to get the team into the postseason. A World Series title has eluded the franchise since 1918.

"We have Hall-of-Fame caliber players on the roster -- and they're in their prime," he said.

He also wants to "turn the Red Sox into a scouting and player-development machine."

Boston has baseball's second-highest payroll at $110.2 million. The Red Sox finished second in the AL East at 93-69, 10 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees and six games behind Anaheim for the AL wild card.

The group headed by Henry and Lucchino bought the Red Sox in February, bringing Epstein to Boston as an assistant general manager. From the start, there were whispers the Yale-educated Epstein would eventually get the GM job.