With this year’s
trade deadline behind us, the Red Sox made several key moves for the future. They
brought in outfielders Yeonis Cespedes and Allen Craig, along with pitcher Joe
Kelly rather than prospects. General manager Ben Cherington assured the fans
that they will be competing next year. Red Sox Nation feels like a honey-moon
phase following the deadline: everybody wants to watch this team again, buy
their jerseys, and purchase tickets in preparation for next year. Personally, I
find this as the biggest PR move the Red Sox ownership and front office has
ever pulled off under the regime of John Henry.
The Red Sox
stink. They are in last place and the sixth worst team in baseball. And as I
previously mentioned, fans are buying jerseys, tickets, and watching every game
in excitement to see these newly acquired players. Ownership is making enormous
amounts of money on a last place team, and I just don’t want to buy in. I don’t
want to cheer for this last place team like it is 2004. Sorry, but I just can’t
stress how much I won’t buy into this PR move.
Ownership also
has a small market mentality, which I hate. They traded Jon Lester because they
were not going to resign him. No one knows if they will resign Cespedes when
his contract expires after the 2015 season. It feels like the Red Sox will let
their top talent leave after arbitration years from now on, a move similar to
the Miami Marlins, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, and pretty much every team
with a very small payroll.
And do not start
with the “they still have a $160 million payroll” crap. They have such a high
payroll because they overspent on B rated players. They spent $13 million on
Victorino, $10 million on Drew, $14 million on Dempster, and $8 million on
Pierzynski. All this money could have gone to Lester, maybe Shin-Soo Choo,
possibly Zach Greinke, or even Josh Hamilton. The Red Sox wasted their money on
all of these B rated players and brain washed us (the fans) because they won a
world series. They got everyone to believe that B rated players are worth more
than franchise players.
Then they used
another small market tactic and said they have all this talent, readily available
within the next three years. Potential never works. Very few guys have lived up
to their potential in the Major Leagues, and none have lived up to potential so
far for the Red Sox. Middlebrooks has lost his job twice and was destined to
lose it a third time this year. Bradley Jr. cannot hit major league pitchers.
Bogaerts has switched positions three different times now and has been pretty
bad at the plate. Allen Webster couldn’t even hit a parked car to save his life
the way he has pitched in the major leagues.
But I agree that
the Red Sox were smart in what they did. They moved most of their expiring
contracts for talent that can help in the future and under team control for
several years. But I still believe ownership keeps brain-washing the fans. They
make fans buy into “next year” and make everything about “next year” and how
they have all these wonderful prospects. I don’t want to wait for next year and
I certainly do not want to wait for prospects. They are the Boston Red Sox. They
have access to large amounts of money and can buy any player they want. They need
to dish out big contracts. They need to compete every year, and they need to be
a World Series or bust team. No more small market tactics, just put a playoff
team on the field every year.
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