I don't usually hold grudges, especially in something as meaningless in the longrun as sports but I still can't forgive the Sox for the way last season ended. I have zero excitement/optimism for this season and am tired of what the whole organization and fan base has become. I'm not gonna complain about the moves/lack thereof during the offseason because they still have one of the highest payrolls in baseball and honestly there wasn't a ton of talent to pick from. Sure, they could have resigned Paplebon but I'll save that blog for the middle of July when the Sox are in mid-season-meltdown mode. Other than that who did you want us to sign Prince Fielder? I think last couple of offseason kind of spoiled a lot of fans. You can't expect a team to go after the top free agents offseason after offseason. We as fans have gotten hung up on the superstar pretty boys of the league and forgotten about the hardworking guys like Bill Mueller's of the world.
There a lot of weird emotions I'm having about the Sox right now, and all gay jokes aside, I really don't know what to think. In one way it is sad to see vetrans like Wake and Tek go but I tend to fall more on the side of they should have retired last year or even two years ago. Don't get me wrong they had great careers and all but let's be honest them retiring affects the team about as much as Hedi Watney taking a job with the Lakers affects the team. I'm not so much sad that they're hanging up the cleats as I am that they have been steadily declining since 2007. Call me crazy but I was much more upset when Nomar and Pedro retired despite them not ending it with the Sox. But back to this season, and more specifically what I am sad about. I'm sad that Tito is gone and as much as someone had to be held responsable for that collapse I'm not sure he deserved to go like that. I would have much rather seen them clean house on the field but I guess it's easier to get rid of manager with an expiring contract than under-preforming, overpaid players. The loss of Tito didn't really hit me until this week when all the coverage of spring training started and you started seeing Bobby Valentine all over the place. CONSPIRACY THEORY ALERT: I think they signed Bobby Valentine because of his attitude towards the media. I tuned into NESN earlier today and saw him sitting next to TC and Gammons and it was like he never left ESPN. Now I'm not gonna jump the gun and make an ass out of myself before they even step onto the field but it just doesn't feel right to me. Who knows, maybe once everything gets under way he'll buckle down. It just seems to me like he's still in media mode and not quite in manager mode just yet.
Before I end this blog I just want to say that I pray to God the Boston media doesn't pull some story out of it's ass to create controversy that is nonexistent (see Tim Thomas' political views). I don't want to hear it in June when some no name is the fifth starter and the Sox are five games out of first that the reason they didn't sign anyone this offseason was because John Henry spent all his money on Liverpool. If anyone thinks that the roster of Liverpool and Red Sox have any kind of correlation you are delusional. The fact is regardless of whether John Henry owned Liverpool or he owned Apple the Red Sox would not have spent any more/less money than they did this off season. The reason the Red Sox have been frugal as of late is because: a.) they're big money deals haven't exactly been working out that great and b.) they don't like being over the luxury tax threshold. If the Red Sox go over the $178 millon salary cap they would need to pay an additional .40 for every dollar they are over the cap. This means that signing a player to a $5 millon contract would actually cost the team $7 millon dollars. If you're running a business it doesn't make sense to just piss away that money unless you really have to. My theory is that they are willing to cross that threshold but only if at midseason it is determined that they are one piece away from being a championship team. Sure, they could have signed Roy Oswalt or Edwin Jackson this offseason but guess what their rotation is Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Bard, and Aceves and pre-season when you compare that to all the over teams in baseball they are without a doubt in the upper class of pitching rotations. I think I'm going to stop writing now because I'm pretty sure no one has read this much but if you have congratulations.
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