CHICAGO — What are the Boston Red Sox thinking?

John Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino and anyone else involved in running the Red Sox have shown themselves to have massive egos, quick tempers and surprisingly poor judgment in blowing up the leadership that gave the Red Sox two electrifying, curse-defying World Series championships.
Nice move from the Chicago Cubs in being there apparently to catch Theo Epstein when he fell out of favor in his hometown. Very, very nice move.

Everybody makes some mistakes, and the Red Sox certainly did with contracts for John Lackey and some others. But Epstein, 37, is a brilliant decision-maker who has at least two decades of leadership left in him, a guy who knows how to find baseball players all around the globe and a guy who can make wickedly difficult decisions, like the trades that sent Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra packing before they hit rock bottom.

If the Cubs had not been wise enough to invest $20 million in acquiring talented teenagers in the draft and in Latin American signings last summer, Epstein probably wouldn’t have taken seriously an opportunity to run the team, no matter how much he would be paid.

But in giving Tim Wilken, Oneri Fleita and their scouts an unprecedented financial commitment, the Cubs apparently pulled off an organizational game-changing move. Tom Ricketts, the owner, showed it’s not fair to judge him off the stumbling start he’s had since buying the team from Tribune Co. Epstein paid attention.

Because Ricketts is determined to build an organization from the ground up, the right way, Epstein seems to be able to see past the Cubs’ 71-91 embarrassment in 2011, picturing an era when that record would be transposed on an annual basis, as has been the case during his time in Boston.

Yes, the Red Sox went 7-20 in September, missing the playoffs and triggering the skakeup that saw Terry Francona forced to resign as manager and Epstein reportedly being allowed to walk. Not to mention a run of salacious stories in Boston papers that would make you think the Red Sox were being guided by the Keystone Kops, not two of the most respected leaders in baseball.

When Ricketts finally got around to firing Jim Hendry as general manager in August, I didn’t think he would be able to get one of his primary targets – Epstein, Brian Cashman, Andrew Friedman and Billy Beane – to come to Chicago. But in the second week of September I began to hear rumblings Epstein actually might be available, that he was bored in Boston and looking for a new challenge.

I talked to some of his best friends in baseball, and they talked of the great opportunity he saw in having a chance to end a second curse.

“I see the Red Sox in 2002 and the Cubs now as being the same challenge,” said Padres General Manager Jed Hoyer, who was an intern with the Red Sox when Epstein took over.

“Obviously they don’t have Pedro (Martinez), Nomar (Garciaparra) and Manny (Ramirez), but they have some talented players. With good baseball decisions, some ballpark improvements and Wrigleyville-type stuff they can expand on, there’s no reason they can’t be the next decade’s Red Sox.”

Epstein didn’t seem available when things turned bad at the end. The feeling around baseball was he couldn’t leave with things in such a state of chaos.

But on Oct. 1, a day after Epstein participated in a press conference announcing Francona’s departure, I began to hear Epstein still could be in play for Ricketts. I canvassed some of his friends again, and one said Epstein was “very interested” in joining the Cubs.

But they weren’t sure the Red Sox really would let him get away.

“If they said to Theo, ‘You have to stay and help fix it,’ I wouldn’t be surprised,” one said. “Letting him walk wouldn’t (surprise me), either. Strange times there.”

In the end, Henry, Werner and Lucchino reportedly came to the same conclusion Jerry Jones did when he pushed away first Tom Landry and then Jimmy Johnson, and what Jerry Reinsdorf did when he allowed Michael Jordan to leave after they collected six NBA titles together.

They decided ownerships, or organizations, win titles, not the people in the uniforms and corner offices.

This would be a huge mistake by the Red Sox, who are going to have to do damage control for years, no matter how much they facilitate Francona and Epstein being trashed in the Boston media. It’s the start of something new for the Cubs, although hiring Epstein alone guarantees nothing.

Epstein would face a much bigger challenge in Chicago than he ever did in Boston. The pre-Theo Red Sox couldn’t get over the hump; the Cubs have work to do just to get back to the hump.

But the perception Epstein took over a great situation isn’t exactly correct, either. The Red Sox of that era were like the Cubs, spending heavily on free agency and in trades because they couldn’t develop their own impact players.

Epstein and his constant analysis (and overanalysis) and creative ways to seek an advantage made the Red Sox better.

They will miss him more than they think, just as he will miss Boston.

Ricketts and the Cubs are the clear winner in this divorce.