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.