Red Sox the new "Evil Empire"?

This dude from si.com is saying the Red Sox won the series in Yankees fashion by filling the club with hired guns.

While the Sox did have only a handul of homegrown talent on this year's club (Nixon was the only one who saw extensive playing time that was brought up through the farm system), his logic is flawed.

If a player who could have been characterized as "serviceable" or "adequate" (Mueller, Bellhorn, Ortiz) while with their former teams blossoms with the Sox, he shouldn't be placed in the category of "mercenary." Nor should players obtained in trades when they were fresh out of the minors and still learning to play in the Bigs (Varitek, Lowe). Nor should players obtained two, three, four years ago (Timlin, Embree) who became solid contributors.

What about Tim Wakefield, pulled from the scrapheap 10 years ago? Is he a "hired gun"? And how does this guy ignore the Sox' trade that brought Cabrera and Mientkiewicz. They could have stripped their farm system bare and gotten those players (the Yankee way), but instead shipped a superstar (Nomar) out of town.

Meanwhile, look at St. Louis. Excluding pitchers, the Cards starting eight had one home-grown player (Pujols). Woody Williams, Jeff Suppan, Ray King, Jason Isringhausen, jason Marquis: none of them home grown. The last two Series winners had plenty of talent brought in from outside (Angels: Appier, Sele, Eckstein, Kennedy, Spiezio, Fullmer; Marlins: Pavano, Urbina, Pudge, Lee, Lowell, Pierre, Hollandsworth, Encarnacion, Conine).

This jackass has basically pointed out something that's been existing in baseball for years: teams trading or signing as free agents the best talent they can afford.

 

that's not what he means. Lots of teams dont develop their own talent. It's just that everyone looks like the yankees are evil for paying out money to the big free agents to win. Boston did the same thing but they are somehow not "evil". Plus the fact that they went after Arod first and once they lost out on him, they then cry about how unfair the system is.

Don't cry over what the yankees do when your own team does the same thing. boston fans think the yankees are evil, but the whole country thinks both are annoying. Every year it's going to be those two competing for the top FA's...because they both have lots of money.

Hello pot, meet kettle.

 

calling me pot/kettle would make sense if I had been bitching about the Yankees, which I didn't. The Yankees were "evil" in the eyes of some Sox fans (Lucchino coined the phrase) more because they rountinely beat the Sox, not because of their payroll. EVERY team is trying to improve by spending money. The only difference is the means by which they can do it.

(BTW, A-Rod was traded. He wasn't a free agent)

 

I realize arod was traded, but my point was that it was mere millions that kept the redsox from doing it. You still spend big bucks when you trade a player. The only two teams in the whole league that could have eaten his salary are boston and the yankees. It was annoying as hell to see that be the top story every day on sportscenter. It didn't matter to anyone out side of the boston-NY areas.

 

Well, the ratings for that series seem to suggest otherwise.

 

why couldn't the mets, or the angels or dodgers, or the giants, or the cubs or white sox, or braves, or marlins eat his salary? Those are decent sized markets.

 

george is evil
george is evil
george is evil
george is evil
george is evil
george is evil
george is evil

:xyzthumbs

 

Yankees home grown stars:

Jeter SS
Williams CF
Posada C
Rivera Closer

Red Sox home grown stars:

Nixon ?????????

 

the REd Sox pulled off a heist by trading Heathcliff Slocumb for Varitek and Lowe, verrrry early in their careers.

Getting rid of Nomar for Meikenvich sp(?) and Cabrera? One homegrown "superstar" for two role players?

When you sign a Giambi/Foulke/Schilling/Ramirez doesn't that team get extra draft picks and you lose a few? The Yankees better enjoy those final four.

 

the point was, it's silly to point a finger at the Sox and say, they're just like the Yankees, buying a World Series. With free agency, it's almost guaranteed that a winner will have a significant amount of imported talent.