BOSTON (AP) – Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer just took a step down in the Boston Red Sox hierarchy, and that’s just fine with them.

“The entire department is very excited,” Hoyer said Friday, a day after the team announced that former general manager Theo Epstein would return. “Not only is Theo a great friend, he is a great talent. Having him back only makes us stronger, and our goal is to have the strongest department possible.”

Epstein’s return has been rumored ever since he stepped down on Halloween, citing an inability to give his all to the team’s cause at the time. In a statement issued by Epstein and the team’s top management, the Red Sox said they now “enjoy the bonds of a shared vision for the organizations future that did not exist on October 31.”

The announcement said Epstein would return to the baseball operations department full-time, but it did not say in what capacity. Owner John Henry said the boy GM’s return would not mean a diminished portfolio for president and chief executive officer Larry Lucchino.

“Larry’s role does not change,” Henry said Thursday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “Details next week.”

Until then, it will remain unclear what the problem was, and what’s changed to make the organization more palatable for the most successful GM in franchise history to return. Nor is it clear what role remains for his former lieutenants, Hoyer and Cherington, who have been operating as co-GMs since Dec. 12.

“The day that Jed and I were announced as co-general managers, I made it clear that I would welcome the opportunity to work with Theo again,” Cherington said. “That day will come early next week, and I am looking forward to it.

“I also made it clear that we were not committing to a specific front office arrangement and we were prepared to adjust if it was in the best interests of the Red Sox,” he said.

Lucchino first hired Epstein, then a Yale student, to work as an intern with the Baltimore Orioles. Epstein followed his mentor to the San Diego Padres and rose to assistant GM there. In 2002, the Red Sox made Epstein – at 28 years and 11 months old – the youngest GM in baseball history.

“Growing up in New England, you never lose the Red Sox from your blood,” he said then. “Being here, being general manager of this club, it just feels right.”

His first team would have reached the World Series if it could have held a three-run lead with five outs to go in Game 7 of the AL championship series against the New York Yankees.

In 04, Boston ended an 86-year title drought and won it all.

The Red Sox also reached the postseason in 05 – a three-year playoff run that was a first in franchise history. But what should have been easy negotiations over Epstein’s contract extension fell apart among dueling news leaks making the other side look petty.

On Oct. 31, the final day of his old deal, Epstein walked away from the team’s three-year, $4.5 million offer – leaving Fenway Park in a gorilla suit to avoid the encamped media.

“I am not burned out,” he said two days later. “I have tremendous passion for the game. I have a tremendous dedication to the game. I believe I will find myself in a position of leadership with an organization again in the future.

“… I believe in myself, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m willing to take this step going off into relative uncertainty. I have faith in myself to embrace this change in my life and, in the end, I believe it will make me stronger.”

AP-ES-01-20-06 1809EST