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Intriguing headline, is it not? Well, in the midst of an excellent recounting of the famous
2006 Doug Mirabelli (State Police Escort) Trade,
an interesting side story emerged. As Tim Healy of
The Hardball Times tells it, then-Sox GM
Theo Epstein steeled himself to make the tough call to
Josh Bard—telling him that he would be sent to San Diego in exchange for Mirabelli's return to Fenway. After he hit the button for "JOSH B." in his phone contact list, he quickly told the person on the other end of the line,
"Hey man, it’s Theo. This is a tough call to make, but we made a trade and I have to let you know that you’re in it." The response was quick as well,
"Really?!". Epstein continued,
"Yeah, we felt like we needed to get somebody in here who has experience catching Wakefield." The shocked "JOSH B." responded,
"Theo, Theo, Theo. This is Josh Beckett. You sure you traded me?" Well,
he hadn't, but
another Red Sox GM would six years later.
