Evil Empire II - Sox Join Yankees As Baseball’s Most Hated
Friday, December 10, 2010
A week ago when the Red Sox acquired Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego, a fellow Sox fan posted the following comment on my facebook page, “now let’s go get Carl Crawford!” My response was, “I doubt that will happen. Let’s not get greedy. Remember, we’re not the Yankees!”
Wow, was I wrong!
You’ve probably heard the old adage; if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! That’s exactly what the Red Sox have done. They have become the New York Yankees.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWe’ve always known that Boston is one of the financial “haves” in Major League Baseball. The organization is one of the few in baseball that can spend lots of money on payroll each season. But I always assumed that there was some financial restraint exercised by the club. No more.
Maybe the fact that the ratings for Red Sox baseball plummeted nearly 40% this past season prompted John Henry & Co. to make a big splash this off season. Maybe he was trying to prove a point to Red Sox Nation that he would still invest in the product here even though he spent millions purchasing a professional soccer team in Liverpool, England. Or maybe there actually is some sound financial logic to these two big moves.
While the Crawford deal is for a reported 142 million dollars over seven seasons, we have not heard any details on an extension for Gonzalez. It is believed to be a done deal in the neighborhood of 150 million dollars for the total package, but they purposely haven’t announced it yet.
Their reasoning may be to avoid too stiff a luxury tax this season. By delaying the announcement of the new deal and having Gonzalez play under the terms of his current contract this season, that will save the Sox significant money toward the luxury tax.
Furthermore, next season David Ortiz and his 12+ million dollar salary comes off the books. So too does J.D. Drew’s 14 million per year. The conventional wisdom is that this will also be Jonathan Papelbon’s final season in Boston meaning another 10 million or so of savings for next season. Those numbers seem to make Crawford and Gonzalez’s new pacts more palatable.
In addition, while the Yankees have re-signed 41-year old closer Mariano Rivera and 36-year old short stop Derek Jeter, Boston has added a 28 and a 29-year old to its roster. That seems to make a lot more sense.
Still, as Sox fans, it will be hard for us to refer to the Yankees as the “evil empire” any longer because I’m quite confident that the rest of baseball looks at Boston the same way. So next time you see Sox GM Theo Epstein, tell him, “way to go Darth Vader!”
