I've said it before. But lets be honest, I still find myself occasionally cheering for the Red Sox. Yet, when Papelbon blew that game at Fenway, I started rolling on the floor in laughter. I realized that my contempt for the Red Sox may have finally reached its boiling point.
With the Yankees getting even better than last year, let's see how the Red Sox have responded, offering garbage to Jason Bay...trading for Jeremy Hermida...signing Marco Scutaro...trading mike lowell for nothing and still paying his contract...and now 85 million to the one pitcher who has demonstrated he cannot pitch in Fenway Park, John Lackey. WHAT THE HELL.
I'm sick of all the love Theo Epstein gets. He is an awful GM when it comes to free agency. The guy can draft excellent, but his trades have been questionable AT BEST. Let's look at all the genius free agency signings from Mr. Epstein,
Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, JD Drew, Keith Foulke, Matt Clement, Ramiro Mendoza
Lets look at all those great trades
Kason Gabbard and Dave Murphy for Eric Gagne
All pro shortstop Nomar Garciaparra for a worse shortstop and a substitute first basemen (yeah we won the world series that year, but it was still an awful trade in terms of value)
Mike Lowell for a garbage 25 year old Catcher who had a good year in double A in 2008 but hasnt done anything since.
Trading Manny Ramirez for anything...
(Theo was not with the Red Sox for the Beckett/Lowell for Hanley Ramirez as he was more concerned with wearing gorilla costumes and touring with Pearl Jam)
Honestly Theo, cheering for the Red Sox used to be fun when we would cultivate our teams and root against the Yankees because all they did was buy championships. Well guess what, its not fun anymore when we become the Yankees. To make matters worse, the Yankees sign people like Mark Teixeira while we sign John Lackey? I'd much rather cheer for a mediocre team who doesnt have as much money to spend but spends it wisely on a competitive team. Not this team that throws money at questionable players and convinced they can still sell out their park and rip off their fans like they have been doing for years.
The Lackey signing may be the straw that broke my back. Chicago White Sox in 2010. Many of you know Ive always been a big White Sox fan due to its rich history, working class fan base, the team that plays in the rich boy Cubs shadow. The classic underdog team that nobody knows about. They have money, they spend it. They have their flaws, but they have personality. A team that I can root for because they dont have idiot fans unlike the ones i am surrounded by here. I'm pretty sure a pink white sox hat wouldnt fly in the South Side. They aren't afraid to critiscize either. Meaning they wont blindly follow a general manager off of a bridge and plummet to a tragic death.
Fenway Park may be the best thing left about the Red Sox. But how long will that last as the Red Sox continue to whore it out and desecrate it with renovations? The Sox and I are done...officially.
-- Boosh
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Come on man you're smarter than this. Foulke was the best player on the Sox in the 04 playoffs. Garciaparra had to go that year. He was hurt and an extreme liability defensively. JD Drew, while he's paid a lot, is a very productive player. He carried the team on his back for a month in 2008 when Ortiz got hurt and was one of the top 4-5 outfielders in the AL last year if you look beyond traditional stats like RBI and batting average (which are highly limited).
ReplyDeleteYou also cherry-pick some of the miscues of Theo, while glossing over the moves that helped win the Sox two championships. Signing Ortiz. Signing Mueller. Signing Millar. Trading for Schilling. Being able to get value for Ramirez when he basically sulked his way out of town.
As for the Lackey signing, the guy is an absolute horse. The sample size you're using is much too small to determine whether or not he'll be successful. He's extremely consistant. If you look at the last three years, his best comparison is Josh Beckett.
The Sox only have to give up money in this deal. They still have all the chips necessary to get a power bat like Gonzalez or Cabrera.
Yeah, there are some good points there.
ReplyDeleteFoulke should have been the MVP of the 2004 World Series. That being said, he was vastly overpaid over the course of his contract. Garciaparra did not have to go, the Red Sox had the media create that notion in order to make the fans happy about trading him; and we still got horrible value in return for nomar. JD Drew has been overpaid, and the signing itself was questionable. It was a questionable contract at best when he was signed, and he's the highest paid player on the Red Sox the past two years. The fact that Drew is the highest paid player on the team shows how delusional Theo is with his priorities. There was no risk attached to Millar, Mueller and Ortiz, they were going to play somewhere, Theo was the one who signed him.
I've always thought Theo's finest hour was the Schilling signing and I'll never knock him for that. I also thought getting Jason Bay was the best they could do for getting rid of Manny. That being said, they created the Manny mess by not nipping it in the bud earlier so I blame Theo for that as well.
As for Lackey, the guy is ridiculously overrated, but an innings eater and not someone I would offer 5 years and 85 million when he is 31 esp after questions about his health came out early last season. He worked out fine in 09, but I would argue the detioration has already begun.
Sure, I glossed over the good moves but let's face it, providing I dont think the Manny deal was good (which I think he created by forcing Manny into a hole to begin with), it's hard to find a good move he's made since 2004 (outside of drafting).
Apparently we've also signed Mike Cameron, a rich man's Mark Bellhorn. If you honestly think the Red Sox are trying to win a World Series in 2010 with these moves, you gotta be drinking the Kool-Aid.
In terms of my article as a whole, your criticism is well founded as it was a heavily slanted piece against Theo and I definitely glossed over the good moves because I figure everyone knows the good ones.
I'm mostly upset because the Red Sox are blowing all of this money on players who will not make this team a contender. Frankly, I would have rathered them sign Sheets and Harden for less money and less years and get a half season out of each of them. that way, theyd have more money to sign Bay.
I'm done with this overpaying for OPB bull shit. The whole point of OBP philosophy is to get good overlooked guys for cheap. Instead, they overpay and overvalue them. It's stupid. The Red Sox are no better than a crappy model of the New York Yankees.
You have to look at it this way: The Sox aren't going to win the World Series every year. Not every move is going to pan out. Some will work, some will not.
ReplyDeleteBut look at the team's track record since 2003: Six playoff appearances. Four ALCS appearances. A division title. Two World Series wins. No other team in baseball can match that. And this is after the team hadn't won a World Series since World War I.
I don't expect the Sox to win the WS in 2010, because so many things can happen between now and next October. I do expect them to contend for a WS, because that's what they've done every year. And that's all you can really ask for.
i can't wait to go skating at Fenway this winter and piss all over the ice
ReplyDeleteinteresting perspective, but I dont look at it that way. All I ask for a team is to make rational moves. I think it sucks that the Red Sox insist on spending all of this money right now to field a mediocre team. If they had done absolutely nothing this off season, I would be happier. It's not about winning the World Series every year. It's showing your fan base respect. These moves are an insult to Sox fans. The Sox will be competitive enough to sell out every game to keep their streak alive, because that's their true goal. I'm pissed because they gave up being subtle about it. A true insult.
ReplyDeleteI wish the sox traded to get Roy Halladay and signed Matt Holliday... way better then Cameron and Lackey... but if they end up getting Gonzalez out line up with him and rotation with the addition of lackey will put us right with the yanks
ReplyDeleteBeckett
Lester
Lackey
ellsbury
Pedroia
Victor
Gonzalez
Yuk
Ortiz
Ill Take that any day
Hey D I know my calculus... it says you + chicks = no
ReplyDeletehahahaha
ReplyDelete