Saturday, August 25, 2012
Finally, the Red Sox are no longer dull
They have to blow up the team to get interesting again. But they're at least doing something. They've been a frustrating and boring franchise for a while now, not just since last fall's epic collapse.* ...
I wonder if Adrian Gonzalez's role in organizing the July players-owners pow-wow had anything to do with him being shipped out. Crawford, Beckett and Punto ("no, not Nick Punto!"), I could care less about. But Sox fans may end up regretting Gonzalez's departure -- and probably will regret it. Maybe he was the key trade bait to make the deal work, assuming the deal goes through. After all, who really wants Crawford, Beckett and Punto ("no, not Punto!")? But I also get the impression the Sox brass have a distinctly non-Money-Ball reason (i.e. chemistry, inability to withstand the pressure of playing in Boston, etc. ) for throwing Adrian into any deal.
* The Sox have clearly been interesting from a soap-opera standpoint. No doubt about that. I'm talking about interesting from an on-field fun, clutch and competitive standpoint.
Update -- It's a done deal. ... The more I look at it, the more it looks like a pure dump and trade to free up the payroll. Not that I want to the Sox to go out and spend. That's been part of their problem. The big-payrolls approach hasn't worked over the past five years. They need to reassess how they spend their money. It's going to have to be part Money Ball, part gut instinct on clubhouse chemistry. A little old school, a little new school. The pendulum has swung too far in the Money Ball direction in recent years. This team can't afford another high-paid disappointment like J.D. Drew, Edgar Renteria, Carl Crawford etc. ... Maybe apply a self-imposed ban on signing NL stars over the next few years? The transition to the AL East and the Sox seems too jarring for some of them. Just thinking outside the non-Money Ball box.
They have to blow up the team to get interesting again. But they're at least doing something. They've been a frustrating and boring franchise for a while now, not just since last fall's epic collapse.* ...
I wonder if Adrian Gonzalez's role in organizing the July players-owners pow-wow had anything to do with him being shipped out. Crawford, Beckett and Punto ("no, not Nick Punto!"), I could care less about. But Sox fans may end up regretting Gonzalez's departure -- and probably will regret it. Maybe he was the key trade bait to make the deal work, assuming the deal goes through. After all, who really wants Crawford, Beckett and Punto ("no, not Punto!")? But I also get the impression the Sox brass have a distinctly non-Money-Ball reason (i.e. chemistry, inability to withstand the pressure of playing in Boston, etc. ) for throwing Adrian into any deal.
* The Sox have clearly been interesting from a soap-opera standpoint. No doubt about that. I'm talking about interesting from an on-field fun, clutch and competitive standpoint.
Update -- It's a done deal. ... The more I look at it, the more it looks like a pure dump and trade to free up the payroll. Not that I want to the Sox to go out and spend. That's been part of their problem. The big-payrolls approach hasn't worked over the past five years. They need to reassess how they spend their money. It's going to have to be part Money Ball, part gut instinct on clubhouse chemistry. A little old school, a little new school. The pendulum has swung too far in the Money Ball direction in recent years. This team can't afford another high-paid disappointment like J.D. Drew, Edgar Renteria, Carl Crawford etc. ... Maybe apply a self-imposed ban on signing NL stars over the next few years? The transition to the AL East and the Sox seems too jarring for some of them. Just thinking outside the non-Money Ball box.
