** FILE **Former Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, right, listens to team president Larry Lucchino, left, during a news conference at Fenway Park in Boston, Monday, Nov. 25, 2002. After parting ways with Theo Epstein, the local boy who led the team to its first World Series title in 86 years, the Boston Red Sox have a vacancy at general manager and some key decisions to make about high-profile players like Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez. Among the candidates being mentioned for the job: San Diego GM Kevin Towers, who like Epstein was a protege of Lucchino. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)