Boston Red Sox fans are a little frustrated with their team right now.
Victor Martinez was only in Boston for a year and a half, but in his short time here he became a team leader and a fan favorite. When the season ended, the Boston Red Sox told the world they wanted to re-sign their switch-hitting catcher.
Theo Epstein said bringing back Martinez, along with re-signing Adrian Beltre, was his top offseason priority.
When the Boston Red Sox make a player their top offseason priority, there is only one excuse for them to be outbid for that player: the New York Yankees.
When the Yankees aren’t involved, the Red Sox should win every time.
How do you explain the Red Sox being outbid not only by the Detroit Tigers, but also by the Baltimore Orioles?
The Red Sox are a large market baseball team. They need to start acting like one. Stop worrying about dead money. Stop worrying about long contracts. Stop worrying about draft picks.
If you like a player, and you think the player will make your team better, then spend the money and sign the player.
It’s pretty simple.
Their philosophy of putting a value on a player and not exceeding it is a great strategy, if they’re building an NFL football team. In the MLB, where there is no salary cap and no limit whatsoever to what a team can spend, a player is worth what a team is willing to pay them.
The Red Sox believe they’re better off with Jarrod Saltalamacchia as their every day catcher than they are with Victor Martinez at $12.5 million per season. That would be an excusable stance if any of the following were true:
1) The Red Sox were the Oakland Athletics or the Tampa Bay Rays
2) Martinez was looking for an insanely long contract
3) The Red Sox hadn’t offered him $10.5 million per season already
The Red Sox basically chose to go with a guy who has a history of problems throwing the ball back to the pitcher and hasn’t proven he can play in the big leagues because Victor Martinez, the best hitter in their line-up, wanted $2 million per season more than they offered him.
Again, excusable in Tampa Bay, not so much in Boston.
Red Sox fans pay big market prices for tickets, they expect their team to pay market value to retain their favorite players.
The offseason isn’t over. Championships aren’t won in December. But with the Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots all looking like potential championship teams, the Red Sox are in danger of falling off the sports map in Boston. They need to make a splash.
They need to convince their fans they’re still willing to do what it takes to put together a team that can compete with the New York Yankees.
Right now, the Red Sox have multiple huge holes in their line-up. It’s a long offseason. There’s still time. But if the Red Sox think their fans will sit back and watch while teams like Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland outbid them for proven players like Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre, they should take a look at the TV ratings for August and September of last season.
If the Red Sox want a player, they should do what the Yankees do and sign the guy. If they want to play within budgets and sign value guys, maybe John Henry and company should sell the Red Sox and re-purchase the Florida Marlins.
Comments
The Sox falling off the map in Boston? It was my understanding that they were top two even when they were in the middle of 86 years of failure--could they really fall off the map?
You are right that the Sox should spend whatever it takes because baseball is the GOP-style (rich get richer, screw a level playing field) system. That's why the NFL is king--and unlike the liberals whose system they emulate, they have a spine! (Equal opportunity critic)
That's the thing: The MLB system is broken, and the Red Sox are in a perfect position to take advantage of it.
As a fan, giving the cost of tickets and the typically rabid following that buys everything ownership sells them (literally and figuratively), I expect ownership to take advantage of the flawed system.
I don't think $2 million per season more for V-Mart is too much to ask...
-Sean
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