Red Sox ownership gaffes bring me back to my joyous childhood when the "brain-trust" of Jean Yawkey, John Harrington, Buddy Leroux, and Haywood Sullivan traded away Freddy Lynn, let Carlton Fisk leave over mailing a contract late (seriously!), signing washed-up veterans, and making every bad situation ten times worse through their idiocy. Now, like in the past, I can watch this ownership group flounder about and make bad situations look like mini-disasters.
- Theo Epstein compensation
- The wrong Chris Carpenter? Really. I'm so unimpressed that I cannot even think rationally about the Red Sox holding the Cubs over the barrel where Epstein so desperately wanted to leave and the Cubs HAD to buckle to their demands to save face and the ownership group says "Nah, just go. We'll sort it out later." Seriously? Was Larry Lucchino tripping balls at White Castle with Neil Patrick Harris and Harold and Kumar for two weeks? Instead of a legitimate prospect the Sox get another one dimensional fastball pitcher who can't keep from walking too many undisciplined minor-league hitters.
- Terry Francona exit
- So wrong in so many ways. The allegations of pain killer use was a cheap shot. Say he lost the clubhouse. Say he let the inmates run the asylum (in truth, he gave Jason Varitek too much responsibility to police the players. As Carl Crawford made so clear during the September collapse when he responded to the media to "ask the Captain" meant no response in any meaningful way.). But never, ever resort to kicking a ex-manager when he's down and out the door. What a low-class, typical Red Sox move.
- Hiring debacle
- The next step after dumping Francona was the circus that led to hiring Bobby Valentine. Actually, it was in the middle of the Theo bologna that the Sox marched in candidates and contradicted themselves left and right. We want an up -and-coming managerial prospect; we want a moneyball guy; we want an experienced professional manager; we want a young guy to grow into the job; we want someone somewhere but we have no clue who was more appropriate. Finally settling on Bobby Valentine seemed like the ultimate concession to having too many cooks in the kitchen. It became stunningly obvious that new General Manager Ben Cherington was hardly in charge, and in truth was likely fetching Larry Lucchino's coffee. His only decision making power was to choose between Dunkin and Starbucks.
- Watching the Yankees engine run smoothly
- In stark contrast to the Sox Screw-ups, the Steinbrenner Clan ran the Yankees like a well-oiled machine this off-season. No splashy, stupid signings. No trading of their massive supply of pitching prospects for a washed-up starter. Instead, the Yankees stayed quiet and positioned themselves to make another pennant run in stark contrast to the Red Sox who ran around like headless chickens. One franchise was classy, in control, had a plan, and stayed cool The other was the Red Sox.
With all that said, the Red Sox still have a decent team. Sure, there's no shortstop, no right fielder, injury-prone pitchers, and absolutely zero depth, but it could be worse: they could be the Celtics!
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