Boston ? At 31, boy wonder Theo Epstein was ready to step out on his own. The Red Sox general manager walked away from his hometown team Monday, stunning Boston just one year after helping the franchise win its first World Series championship since 1918.

“I gave my entire heart and soul to the organization,” Epstein said. “During the process leading up to today’s decision, I came to the conclusion that I can no longer do so. In the end, my choice is the right one not only for me but for the Red Sox.”

Epstein will continue working for a few days to assist in the transition and prepare for the offseason. The Boston Herald said the Yale graduate told associates he might leave baseball, or at least take a year off.

The Dodgers, Phillies and Devil Rays have GM openings, but none has a $120 million payroll to match the one Epstein was given in Boston.

Once the youngest GM in baseball history and still the youngest to assemble a World Series champion, Epstein reportedly was offered about $1.5 million a year for a three-year extension. That was quadruple his previous salary but still short of the $2.5 million the Red Sox offered Oakland’s Billy Beane in 2002.

By leaving, Epstein breaks a longtime link with Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, who hired him as a Baltimore Orioles intern and brought him to San Diego and then Boston.

The Herald said Epstein went through “agonizing soul-searching” over office politics. Published reports that contained inside information about their relationship “slanted too much in Lucchino’s favor,” helping convince Epstein there had been a breach of trust, the Herald said.