…everybody has one!
I’d like to know why so many Boston sports writers (and Boston sports fans) are using the “If you say that the front office didn’t screw up you’re in denial” or “If you say you didn’t want Teixeira on your team you’re lying” arguments against any Red Sox fans who aren’t devastated that Mark Teixeira is in New York.
To me, this is akin to saying “If you don’t agree with my opinion, you’re stupid”. Way to connect with people. folks.
I could have taken or left Mark Teixeira. I know he’s a good player (although, I’d like to know when he became the best player in MLB? He’s not, folks. He really isn’t. So to the people who keep telling me I’m in denial or lying, I tell you to stop over-hyping this guy in the name of Sox bashing.) but I wasn’t champing at the bit to get him. Let’s see, we’ll move Youk back to third, find a team where we can ditch Lowell, carry the one…it just didn’t mean that much to me to get him. We were a healthy Josh Beckett away from the World Series this year – I don’t look at the Red Sox and think “Holy hell!!!! Theo hasn’t done ANYTHING this off-season, we’re DOOMED!!!!”. Good for you if you do but stop trying to drown me with your negativity.
Remember the off-season of 2003? Sure you do. Everyone and their brother had us signing Alex Rodriguez including, for a time, Alex Rodriguez, right? Back then, I was a regularly posting member of the Red Sox Fan Forum over at redsox.com. The place was abuzz for weeks with talk of getting ARod. I forget the specifics, but wasn’t the plan back then to trade ARod for Manny Ramirez and then trade Nomar Garciaparra for Magglio Ordonez? I HATED this idea, long before it all went south. And there were many, MANY people willing to voice the same opinion over at redsox.com. Then once everything fell through and Slappy ended up with the Yankees, from out of the woodwork came the people taunting those of us who didn’t care. “Oh you have to say that to make yourself feel better about your team screwing this up!” was a common refrain. No, I said it because I didn’t want to lose Manny and Nomar for ARod and Magglio. Don’t care now and didn’t care then if people thought I was choosing loyalty to players over improving the team (which, in a sense, I guess I was. I just never liked ARod – never – and there are some players I never want to have to root for – he’s one of them).
Mark Teixeira isn’t one of them, though. Never really had anything against him, but I like the way this team looks (for the most part. Have I mentioned that we need a catcher? I’d much prefer Theo sign a starting catcher right now. Seems kind of an important piece of the team that is currently, well, MISSING right now.) and I didn’t see the need of signing a Teixeira just for the sake of doing so. Wouldn’t have been too upset if they did (although the ultimate loss of Mike Lowell would have been greatly upsetting) but, again, really not devastated that they didn’t.
So the Sox didn’t get Teixeira and the Yankees did. I’m not giving up tickets to the Red Sox games in protest, that’s for sure. If anything, it’s nice to (once again) have a bit of a “bring it on” attitude in regard to the Yankees. Rivalries are fun and the Steinbrenners just kicked it up a notch again.
But, seriously Theo, a catcher. A catcher would be good.
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Red Sox Chick/Toeing the Rubber 
(I saw the picture of Nomar and had to hold back a sniffle.)
Good for you for holding your ground and not letting others tell you what you think. As if.
I want our catcher back (Tek) and one more. I’m happy Lowell is still on the team. I want Youk signed to a long-term deal. We need a fourth outfielder. All this is still doable and well within our reach.
Let us not also forget all the lovely surprises we’ve had from our farm system over the past couple of years. I’m not saying we should count on it, but the players coming up are prepared to play in Boston. What new marvel will we witness this year?
Good for Theo and Co. for making a tough and not very popular decision. I have learned over the years to trust their judgment. I really don’t think I can point to a day when they’ve let us down. We’ve been consistently competitive and won 2 World Series under their watch.
We don’t have Teixeira and I feel just fine too.
Thanks, as always for your posts (especially in the off-season.) Most days they’re a breath of fresh air in a sea full of muck. 🙂
The Yanks have already won the World Series, the Giants have locked up the Super Bowl, and the Knicks have already acquired LeBron James in some future year and then won that year’s NBA title. Didn’t you know?
You’re asking if I can recall the 2003 off season? You’re joking, right?
Okay, I openly admit to being pro Rodriguez/Ordonez at the time, but didn’t fault the Sox for it not going through. It was the MLBPA who protected their ground for not allowing Rodriguez to seemingly, take less than his total contract value.
AirBud had no problems with it, and neither did Rodriguez, and the truth was, the Sox were a half step away from getting the best SS in all of baseball. It wasn’t meant to be, and Aaron (farging), Boone coughhurtscough himself and NY swoops in and inks him.
Little did we know then that Alex would be so completely and utterly an ass. Still, he put up MVP numbers, and Magglio has done well, as has Manny. The guy who really screwed up is Nomar, as after his being shipped off to the Cubbies, never saw a whiff of contract the likes of which Boston was willing to pay.
His faitful butt boy, Arn Tellem recently found himself embroiled in another sad saga, this time between the Dodgers and Braves.
FWIW, Beazer, having Teixeira in Boston would have improved the team. Assuming the bald sweat gland comes close to similar numbers as last year, and Teixeira does what he does, the corners would have been very solid.
That the Sox did not get into a pissing contest with NY over this suggests no failure to me. It signals a sharp eye at player valuation, and other needs that must be tended to. If you were to compare situations, one was based on bettering an already solid baseball team, while the other was in a state of great need. At the end of the day, it wasn’t the Sox who have to take any heat for what transpired…
//FWIW, Beazer, having Teixeira in Boston would have improved the team. //
I never said it wouldn’t. I said I don’t have a problem with the team we have at hand because I think it’s a damn good team, especially given how far they went last year in spite of the injuries and such.
Listen to Cyn, Theo.
A catcher would be nice.
Seriously.
Yes, catching is a huge issue for sure. And Cash signed w. the Yankees, btw….
I still found this a disappointment though. Not because I was overly committed to Tex – but because we do have a hole in our line up. And my frustration doesn’t lie in the Sox organization — good for them for having a hard line and sticking to it; my frustration lies in the fact that there is no sense of value in most of these players anymore.
It’s just about a paycheck. Not about where they really want to play or who they’d enjoy and want to play for. I’m sorry – but there’s a big difference between playing for the Yankees or the Sox. Or the Nationals and the Yankees. (Maybe Tex would’ve picked the Yanks over the Sox anyway — but we’ll never know that.) How can you be THAT ambivalent about where you are going to play. If it’s all about the money and not about the organization as a whole – then how dedicated are you? Available to the highest bidder? To me, that makes you a high paid “Fill in the blank here.”
I’m sorry, but that to me is disappointing when you’re dealing with a player that is of the supposed caliber of Texeira.
Screaming “salary cap” here…!
Cyn before the Teixeira deal came down a friend of mine asked me what I thought about him being a part of the Red Sox. He was making the assumption that it was a done deal. I told him that I learned from 2003 and the Arod deal not to believe anything until the trade was completed. He laughed at me and insisted the Sox were going to get Teixeira. I told him not to be too sure as I thought the Yankees might swoop down and grab him. I was prepared for that to happen and not surprised at all.
He probably would have made the Sox a better team but I also didn’t really want to see Youk move back to third and Lowell not with the team. I like the corners we have very much and I’m hoping that Mike comes back strong in Spring Training. How surprising that I agree with you Cyn. 😉
//How can you be THAT ambivalent about where you are going to play. If it’s all about the money and not about the organization as a whole – then how dedicated are you?//
Look at the flip side, though–players can be traded. As Teixeira has been, twice. It’s a *requirement* of playing in professional sports that you be willing to drop all loyalty and feeling about one team and commit to a new one, sometimes overnight.
And depending on the industry you’re in–insurance and education come to mind–even us ordinary folks often need to be able to switch teams depending on a job situation, while keeping one’s own best interests very much at the forefront.
I think there’s a difference between playing for a team that plays in front of full houses on a regular basis and playing for a team with minimal support. Beyond that, I don’t think there’s nearly as much difference to players as there is to the fans. A player could dislike a front office but love a coaching staff–which one will he see more of? And I think a no-trade is HUGE. I understand the Sox not providing them–but I understand a player wanting one, too.
Good points all.
I was “boy, it would be nice if we get him”, and then “gosh, as long as he isn’t a Yankee”, and then, “m^&$%rf^&king Yankees!”, and now, just sort of peacefully at ease.
Let’s face it, on paper, They are better. A LOT better. But, as Kenny Mayne taught us, games aren’t played on paper. They’re played inside TV sets.
But I’m satisfied with where we are. We have two more titles this decade than They do, and we’re back in our customary spot, looking up at Mount Olympus. They have no excuses-no way to explain away a 3 game sweep, no acceptable result other than a ring. It’s time for Them-all of Them-Slappy, and Captain Terrifically Awesome, and CantO, and Judas Damon, and Glass Arm Burnett, and Two Ton Sabathia, and Million Dollar Mark-to put up, or shut up. And that will make Pap striking out Tex with two on and two out in a one run game all the sweeter.
And nothing they do-NOTHING they do-will make the stench of 2004 go away. They are forever linked with the greatest collapse in the history of professional sports, and we, their lifelong foes, gave it to them, and they had to stand there and shiver in April and watch us get our rings.