Theo Epstein...not cool

Though I despise the Red Sox and everything they stand for, I've always had at least some small amount of respect for Theo Epstein. That is, however, until this story hit:

Theo Epstein, general manager of the Boston Red Sox, called Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina a "bad apple" for complaining about the team's trip to Japan in 2004.

The Red Sox open this season against the Oakland A's in Japan. Appearing on Boston radio station WEEI last Friday, Epstein said, "Kevin Brown and Mike Mussina spent the whole time bitching about it ... and by the time the Yankees team got back from the trip they were all using it as a crutch."...

"The research that we've done on the Japan trip from the teams that have previously gone," Epstein said, "is one or two bad apples can spoil the lot."

Really Theo...bad apples? Though he could have said something more unprofessional, this was pretty bad. He has absolutely no business commenting on how Mussina handled the trip. There's no excuse for bad mouthing a player from another organization, especially when he wasn't at all around the team at the time. If he worked for the Yanks in some capacity and then switched teams, he might have an argument. Since that's not the case, he has no reason to talk.

Moose's handled the situation quite well:

Told of the comments, Mussina said sarcastically, "Yeah, we used it as an excuse for winning the division."
...

Said Mussina: "You need a comment from me about him calling me a bad apple? I don't have one."

His first quote made me laugh. I don't need to mention what happened in the playoffs, but the Yanks did win the division that year. If they were using it as a crutch, it didn't show in their play over the course of the season.