Theo Epstein - HOF?
 

If the Cubs win the World Series, does that make Theo Epstein a lock for the HOF? He will have won World Series rings with two of the most storied franchises in baseball.

Nope. I'd give him credit for the Red Sox, but I think it was largely luck/chance with the Cubs.

To me, an Exec has to be an Exec for something like 50 years and do something significant for baseball to get in. Branch Rickey doesn't have a lot in common with Theo Epstein, for example.

While Epstein is no Branch Rickey, he (and perhaps Billy Beane) represents a new paradigm in baseball philosophy, sabermetrics. I see him in the same light as Larry MacPhail, a GM for a little more than ten years who revived two moribund franchises in the Depression and co-owned the Yankees during WW2. If MacPhail is in, than Theo Epstein should be a lock with his resume but only IF the Cubs win the World Series. That's two franchises with nearly 200 years of futility without him at the helm.

I tend to agree. If it's seen somewhere down the road that he altered the way the game is "GM'd" leading to a better chance of winning and staying competitive, then he should be in.

Yep, if Cubs win, I think he's in. Also, now that I'm older, that fact he took the Sox job at like 26-27 is absolutely amazing looking back on it. Not that that factors to HOF, but is nuts!!