THE
Currency
THE
Currency
14 November 2007
- The New Evil Empire -
Like just about everyone else in America these days, I have a friend who is a Red Sox fan (unlike most of them, he actually is from Massachusetts, though he also roots for the Chicago Bulls instead of the Celtics, but I'm not going to go into that here and now). We were chatting the other day about MLB free agent developments and he was asking me whether or not I thought the Sox were going to re-sign Mike Lowell. As recently as a few years ago, this might have turned into a 15-minute discussion about who else needs to be signed or re-signed, which other teams might be willing to offer Lowell a contract, and what their options might be for replacing Lowell. This time around, it was a no-brainer. If the Red Sox want Lowell, which they do by all accounts, and if he doesn’t have a strong desire to go elsewhere, which he does not by the same accounts, then they are going to re-sign him. Even Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who can usually get any free agent on earth that he wants and may very well be looking for a 3rd baseman to replace the playoff choke artist formerly known as A-Rod, admitted that nobody else has a shot at Lowell if the Red Sox do indeed still want him.
Why?
Because for all intents and purposes, the Red Sox have become virtually indistinguishable from the Yankees. They are the new evil empire, joining the reigning lords of the unholy from New York.
Let’s examine some of the ways in which the current edition of the Red Sox mirrors the characteristics of the recent edition Yankees that have enraged all non-Yankee fans over at least the past decade or so:
1. The exorbitant payroll. In 2007, the Yankees (as usual) led the league with a payroll of $195 million, but the Sox were a not-so-distant second at $144 million. Between 2006 and 2007, the Yankees actually trimmed (if you can call it that) $3.5 million while the Sox added a staggering $23.5 million, the highest jump in baseball and nearly equivalent to the Devil Rays entire payroll for 2007. But it’s not just the numbers; it’s the attitude that goes with it. It’s the reckless abandon that the teams use in signing absurdly high-priced free-agents, often with sizable question marks, and then simply dumping them and replacing them if they don’t work out. It’s the luxury of being able to rely on a number of increasingly banged-up and/or mentally unstable veterans because they can afford to do so. Very recent contract situations like those of J.D. Drew, Julio Lugo, and Edgar Renteria come to mind, but nothing exemplifies this penchant for winning at any cost (the dollar-amount kind, not the self-sacrifice kind) more than the Daisuke Matsuzaka situation. You know, the one where the Red Sox “reluctantly” dropped $51 million just to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka and another $52 million (plus incentives) to sign him, not really knowing whether they were getting the Japanese Pedro Martinez (what he was billed as) or the Japanese Pedro Astacio (what he may turn out to be). Marketing ploys aside, name another team that could dish out that kind of coin for a total crap shoot. No, no, I meant BESIDES the Yankees.
2. The growing number of overpaid players who don’t pull their weight. This is directly connected with point 1 and was never more evident than in the 2007 ALCS when they narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Indians. Brief hot streaks from rookies Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury aside, the rest of the lineup outside of Youkilis/Ortiz/Ramirez/Lowell is pretty much a joke. Yes, Josh Beckett is dominant, Papelbon is a monster, Ortiz is a clutch-hitting nightmare, and Manny is always a threat (at least at the plate), but that’s about it. The truth is that even with all that money spent and all the aforementioned weapons, the late-series heroics of Pedroia and the decision by manager Terry Francona to finally insert Ellsbury in place of the excruciatingly poor Coco Crisp were probably the only things that staved off elimination. Again, I could spend hours talking about Coco Crisp, whom Terry Francona refers to as the “best centerfielder that I’ve ever seen”, even though he can’t hit, throws like a blindfolded girl, and probably isn’t even the best centerfielder on his own team. I could spend hours on Julio Lugo, who has always shown flashes of brilliance but has been about as far from a model of consistency (aside from jockstrap adjustment and alleged spousal abuse) in his career as anyone. I could even touch on Curt Schilling, who is in the twilight of his career and sadly heading downhill fast, or Varitek, whose bat speed barely tops the velocity of a student driver in a parking lot, or just about anyone else outside of Okajima in that sorry excuse for bullpen. But no, I think I’ll go with J.D. Drew, for whom I would be most remiss in overlooking. In fact…
3. J.D. Drew. Maybe his name, which should seemingly be D.J. (for his actual name, David Jonathan), is screwy, and maybe that’s where the negative karma starts for all I know. As for his baseball career… well, to be honest, it probably all started with Philadelphia Phillies because it didn’t start with the Phillies. In being spurned by Drew after having drafted him second overall in 1997, the Phillies and their fans became the first group to distrust J.D. Drew. The Cardinals learned the hard way, watching six years of Drew’s flashes of brilliance hidden amongst a myriad of disappointments and, of course, annual trips to the disabled list. The Braves took their turn and got lucky in 2004, when Drew had his only great (and healthy) season (we won’t talk about his failure to deliver in the playoffs), and even they were smart enough to let him walk rather than hoping for lightning to strike twice at an escalated cost. Fortunately for Drew, then-Dodger GM Paul DePodesta came to the rescue, dishing out $55 million to Drew (surely as lineup protection for uberslugger Hee-Seop Choi) and 5 years of pain to Dodger fans. Naturally, Drew was back on the DL by the All-Star break of 2005. And so on and so forth… until the Red Sox were gracious enough to convince Drew to opt out of the final 3 years of his contract and sign a 5 year, $70 million pact with Boston (I’m still not sure how Dodger GM Ned Colletti actually pretended to express anguish and sadness at losing Drew on a teleconference at the time, all the while probably hushing the people popping champagne behind him). And so finally I come to my point about Drew and the Red Sox. He played a typically underwhelming season in 2007, batting .270 with 11 HRs and 64 RBIs, jogging after some balls and misplaying others in rightfield enough to make Manny look like a Gold Glover, killing scores of rallies by watching strike 3 zip by him, and constantly displaying his trademark facial expressions and mannerisms typical of someone who really doesn’t give a care. Quite the $70 million investment. Well, naturally the Sox make the playoffs in spite of him, and what happens next? He hits a crucial 2-out grand slam in the first inning of Game 6 to help the Sox even and, shortly thereafter, win the ALCS. And suddenly, all is apparently forgiven. Look, the guy has got tools, and when he does decide to take the bat off his shoulders, he can engineer a pretty-looking swing at times. But the bottom line is that no other team would have the financial means to take on such a risky endeavor (and get rid of it quickly if it didn’t pan out), the overflowing reservoir of lineup protection and assets to make up for the associated lack of production, and the willingness to forgive all faults based solely on one at-bat (perhaps not even the Yankees, in this case… just ask Aaron Boone).
4. The role of the rookie. Have you ever noticed how every single rookie and/or young player on the Yankees in the last several years is always touted as the next great, a ceaseless contributor to the team who is purported to come through in every clutch situation and makes nothing but spectacular plays? Some of the praise is certainly deserved, granted, but even the most pedestrian of feats are regularly blown out of proportion in these parts. Take for example, Melky Cabrera, who has been showered with nothing but praise in 2 seasons at the big league level and is allegedly the golden centerpiece in all kinds of spectacular trade rumors despite the fact that he has yet to hit over .280 or with any power whatsoever, not to mention the fact that he is a chronic lollygagger in the outfield. Yeah, he fills in fine on days when Johnny Damon wakes up in the morning and can’t lift his left arm over his head, and yeah, he comes through with a big hit every once in a while when a few of the multitude of sluggers surrounding him in the lineup reach base with less than 2 outs and the opposing pitcher is forced to feed him fastballs, but he’s really just your run of the mill outfielder. Well, the Red Sox youngsters have begun to get the same treatment. Just look at Dustin Pedroia, recently named the 2007 rookie of the year. There is no doubt that Pedroia had a terrific all around season, or that he came up with some key plays in the World Series. By the same token, the guy hit .180 through the first month of the season, which might have gotten him benched on a team without so many other offensive weapons to pick up the slack and allow the coaches and fans to be ever so patient (see Wilson Betemit with the Dodgers, for example). Furthermore, it is certainly reasonable to assume that Pedroia’s average was helped out to some degree by the quality of pitches he was seeing as the hitter just in front of Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez for a good portion of the season. Again, Pedroia’s season was a strong one, but it was a bit overhyped for a guy destined to become the next Mark Loretta. By comparison, stick ROY runner-up Delmon Young in Pedroia’s spot in the Boston order and see what kind of numbers he comes up with. I’m guessing he outdoes his .288-13-93 with Tampa Bay, not to mention Pedroia's .317-8-50.
5. “Fans” EVERYWHERE. Given the great success enjoyed by the Patriots over the last few years, one would think that there’d be at least as many Patriot fans as Red Sox fans since the two fan bases are theoretically one in the same, but this is simply not true. Yeah, there are plenty of Patriot fans around these days, but you can’t walk a block on a busy street (especially one with a bar) without seeing at least 3 Red Sox hats. Tom Brady is the toast of the entire NFL and on his way to leading New England to their fourth Super Bowl in this decade, and you’ll find a number of people sporting Brady jerseys, but you’ll find so many chowderheads with Papelboners that you’ll wonder if Dane Cook has started advertising for some kind of special Red Sox “There’s Only One October” Cialis and you somehow missed it. It used to be that everyone “cool” owned a Yankees hat and claimed to be a fan. Now? Meet Red Sox “Nation”.
There has been a ton of media attention lately which has focused on the new evil empire that has formed in the Northeast. Founded on consistent success and heightened by the cheating scandal early in the season, the Patriots have been billed by many as a team that should be despised by all. One ESPN advertisement prior to the recent Patriots/Colts showdown had billed the game as “Good vs. Evil”, with the Colts playing the role of “good”. Everyone is talking about the Patriots as being evil, but the truth is that the new evil empire is the Red Sox.
Other random notes:
1. You may be jealous of the Patriots, but they are a beautiful thing to watch. They don’t do a whole lot of showboating, and they focus a lot more on substance than style. They go out there and execute with surgeon-like precision each week, and that's all. The Red Sox? There isn’t a whole lot pretty about them. Manny takes half an hour to get to first base or to field a ball in the OF, and he looks like a hobo. At the risk of repeating myself, Lugo is a disaster at SS, as is Crisp in CF and Drew in RF. Not a whole lot of pitching for all that money outside of Beckett, and not much to speak of in the bullpen besides Papelbon. Yeah, they make it work, but it certainly isn’t pretty most of the time. Unless you’re a Sox fan.
2. Speaking of Manny, I would bean that dude about once a series if I were the opposing team. That stop-and-stare home run (and sometimes not home run) approach he has to slothing the bases every time he makes contact is disgraceful and embarrassing to the game, not to mention the pitcher. During the ALCS, everyone second-guessed the Indians’ coaching decisions like pitching Westbrook in Game 7, not sending Lofton from second on the single to left, and bringing relievers in too early or too late in certain spots. The move I question? Not putting one between the shoulder blades when Manny came up with 2 outs and nobody on in Game 4 after hitting the last of back-to-back-to-back homers his previous time and loitering at home plate like a mannequin on strike. That is garbage (and along those lines, how on earth could Joe Buck be so offended by Randy Moss fake mooning the Packer crowd a few years back and not find this similarly distasteful… you are already a loser, Joe, but the least you could do is be a consistent loser).
