As an Orioles fan, I'm very happy to see Epstein move on. He's on the short list of the best GMs in the game and I don't think that's remotely debateable. Hindsight is 20/20...Epstein had to make decisions based on the information he had at the time. I don't think there were too many people saying Crawford was a bad signing at the time. How is it Epstein's fault that a guy with a proven track record didn't perform? Lackey was very good before he came to Boston as well, so both moves were reasonable at the time.
I read some of this stuff people are writing (both on here and nationally) and I just wonder what they're thinking. Fans of at least 25 teams would trade their GM for Epstein right now if they had a clue.
With that being said, he probably won't be a huge loss for Boston because I think he's surrounded himself with a highly skilled staff and someone (Cherington?) will step right in. It will be interesting to see the staff Epstein puts together.