The New York Times-20080127-Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry Wears Suits

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Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry Wears Suits

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The general managers of the Yankees and the Red Sox form a striking couple, though mainly for their contrasts, which seem to capture the respective stations of their ball clubs, in addition to outside perceptions of their executive standing.

Smaller in physical stature than Theo Epstein, his Boston counterpart, Brian Cashman tends to speak with an earnestness and an eagerness to explain himself fully, and with the permanently furrowed brow of a man regularly dealing with vocational stress.

With careful grooming and impeccable posture, Epstein comes across as more spit-shined, with the self-assurance of a young master of his universe, and with the glint of realization that the joke is never on him.

At least not since he has presided over two curse-eviscerating World Series titles in the last four years, a span in which the Yankees have failed to advance beyond one round in the postseason.

I didn't have to clear it with Hank either, Epstein snapped after Cashman was asked if he had sought Hank Steinbrenner's permission to partner up with the chief architect of the Yankees' sworn enemy for a lecture program Friday night at William Paterson University.

No note of consent from the new boss was required, Cashman assured us. But who would argue that Steinbrenner doesn't aspire to become the singular voice of the Yankees -- having already replaced his once-loquacious father, George, Cashman and eventually perhaps John Sterling, Michael Kay and Bob Sheppard --and wouldn't have preferred the lecture gig for himself?

That is, if Steinbrenner wasn't already busy writing a column for The New York Post as a celebrity commentator on the Super Bowl, which happens to be the sport George Steinbrenner was infamous for referencing back in his prime as the Yankees' self-appointed motivational mastermind.

Until Friday night, Cashman in recent months had seemed to disappear into a Yankees witness-protection program, while Hank Steinbrenner provided round-the-clock updates on everything from matters within the ownership realm to Joba Chamberlain's role in 2008.

After hearing Steinbrenner tell a reporter, I'm not going to waste Joba as a setup guy, period, what general manager with one year remaining on his contract would have believed it career-advantageous to play the public contrarian?

Cashman acknowledged Steinbrenner's active role with the press, but also said, not referring exclusively to the Chamberlain decision, I don't feel that I have to necessarily reinforce that position.

In other words, he didn't make the climb from intern to general manager and survive for almost a decade by being a yes (or YES) man. Cashman and Epstein, 31 and 28 when they ascended to their current positions, have proved to be savvy beyond their years, and more than the sum of their abundant organizational resources.

A crowd of almost 1,000 jammed the university's Shay Center to hear them discuss the rivalry that is biding its time, allowing the Giants and the Patriots another week to settle their own regional hostilities. Then it's back to the Roger Clemens and Johan Santana watches, pitchers and catchers, Yankees and Red Sox.

No question, the Super Bowl in general, and this coming one in particular, dwarfs anything baseball may respond with as a national event. But for sheer soap-operatic drama from central New Jersey to northern New England, Yankees-Red Sox will not soon be supplanted, as long as both teams remain at or near the top of baseball's revenue-generators and don't make calamitous spending decisions.

Along those fault lines, Cashman and Epstein addressed the difficulties of resisting the temptations of immediate gratification (without mentioning Santana by name) and the desire to hold to the blueprint more than make moves for the sake of keeping up with the other.

Granted, Cashman said, sustaining a championship-caliber team is even more challenging than building one. Epstein agreed, admitting he consulted the Patriots after the World Series in 2004 for advice on how to meet the challenges of success.

If you don't manage it properly, things can get away from you, even if you have the same type of talent, Cashman would have told Epstein, if there weren't subjects that are off-limits between the respectful rivals. It's a dangerous, slippery slope.

On top of the baseball world and especially the Yankees, Epstein is pretty much where Cashman was at the turn of the century, with three straight Series victories (and four in five years) before the team-first philosophy that created the core of championship players was abandoned.

Cashman made his share of personnel blunders, especially in the acquisition of starting pitchers, but did he really have an alternative to overpaying and praying when the mandate from above was to win now, yesterday and tomorrow?

While Hank Steinbrenner has said that he supports the developmental plan Cashman embarked on a couple of years ago after he won a power struggle with the people surrounding George Steinbrenner in Tampa, you wonder how long he will fight the urge to meet Minnesota's steep price for Santana. And how much self-control he will exert if Epstein's Red Sox continue to have their way.

New owner. Same family. Old meddling habits?

Frankly, I wish they were doing things the way they were five years ago, Epstein said, referring to the rash of signings that brought the Yankees many big names and no World Series titles. In Boston, the funniest joke of all.

[Illustration]PHOTO: General Managers Theo Epstein, left, and Brian Cashman at a lecture Friday night at William Paterson University. (PHOTOGRAPH BY AARON HOUSTON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)