BY THE time new owners Tom Werner and John Henry get done with their subtle dismantling of the Red Sox, the team might want to consider changing its name to the Pink Sox.
Why do you think Commissioner Bud Selig approved them as the purchasers when they weren’t the highest bidders? Because they won’t be the highest bidders for key free agents either, that’s why. They won’t put serious pressure on the Yankees, thus fueling the ire aimed at the evil empire that has won four of the past six World Championships.
Werner’s tenure as owner of the Padres was all he needed on his resume to qualify as the man Selig wanted to own the Red Sox. Werner dismantled a winning ballclub. He went the cheap route, killed a contender and the morale of all the baseball fans in San Diego. For this, he moved to the head of the class.
Many teams have legitimate gripes about all the competitive advantages of the Yankees. Increased revenue sharing is a must and even the Yankees can’t argue that point.
Don’t count the Red Sox among those with reason to feel as if they are shut out by the system. Count them among those not trying as hard as they can to beat the Yankees.
Bring your pink socks tonight, wave them, and boo the Red Sox like you’ve never booed them before because they deserve it for taking the fun out of what could be a exhilarating race for the American League East title.
The Yankees took on $12 million to make themselves better by getting the Blue Jays to eat $7 million of Raul Mondesi’s contract. The opportunity exists for the Red Sox to make a far more significant move, one that would change the landscape of the division race and inject the Red Sox clubhouse with a confidence boost seldom seen in midseason.
The Red Sox could do this by getting the Mets to eat some of Mo Vaughn’s contract and take a couple of bad short-term contracts in return and so far all the Red Sox have done is publicly shout they aren’t interested in Vaughn and privately whine about Selig approving the Mondesi trade when he could have blocked it.
Meanwhile, Vaughn continues to swing through the years, the injuries, the rust; he continues to swing like the MVP he used to be. And all those powerful swings are being wasted on the non-contending Mets when they could be used for the Red Sox. Vaughn is signed through 2004, would waive his no-trade clause in a nanosecond to go to the Red Sox, and would thereby open up first base for Mike Piazza.
Tony Clark has hit two home runs for the Red Sox. Vaughn, who hasn’t been quite as hot after the All-Star break (.391) as he was in the days before it, nevertheless has more post-break homers (three) than Clark has for the season.
The Red Sox can continue spinning their wheels by trying to get Jim Thome and denying it, or they can move to shock the Yankees by getting Mo.
Where is the outrage in Boston over this non-move?
Imagine your favorite restaurant getting purchased by new owners who immediately inform the public they will be cutting costs. They’ll be selling steaks made from dead horses instead of dead cows. How would that fly? Why should it fly in baseball?
The Boston media, repeatedly lauded as the toughest in the country in this space, is so giddy over being rid of condescending, impersonal Dan Duquette they have given the new horse-meat peddlers a free pass and by doing so are contributing to the Yankees getting a free pass to yet another division title.
The question they should be putting to the Red Sox bosses is an elementary one: Do you want to be the Mo Sox or do you want to be the Pink Sox?