As Alex Rodriguez (above) enters a stage of his baseball career where he seems to be as useless as he’s horny, there’s no shortage of speculation this afternoon that tonight’s ALCS Game 4 could be his last in a Yankee uniform. (not that he’s expected to actually contribute, mind you). With the increasing likelihood Brian Cashman will attempt to swap A-Rod for another onerous contract (say, Heath Bell’s), the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham takes this unique opportunity to praise the Red Sox for last summer’s escape from further obligations towards Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford.
Instead of watching the 32-year-old Beckett throw 91-mph fastballs the next two seasons and become increasingly recalcitrant, they can go get somebody younger, better and more team oriented.
Instead of counting how many surgeries Crawford has over the length of his seven-year deal, they can invest that money in a player entering his prime.
And while Adrian Gonzalez was a hefty tariff to pay for unloading Beckett and Crawford, his diminishing power and problems hitting at Fenway Park are troubling signs. Now, thanks to the Dodgers, the Red Sox have incredible roster and payroll flexibility.
Unless they pull off their own miracle trade, the Yankees are stuck with an aging and expensive roster. They’ll surely pay to bring back Mariano Rivera next season. He turns 43 in November. CC Sabathia, who is 32, is signed until 2016 with a vesting option for 2017. Mark Teixeira, also 32, is signed through 2016. Robinson Cano will be a free agent after 2013 when he is 31 and will command a long-term deal.
The Red Sox were a wretched team and finished in last place, a whopping 26 games behind the first-place Yankees. But the Sox might actually have the advantage moving forward.
This burgeoning armchair GM, who is given space in a daily paper to engage in his baseball fantasy out loud, would have us believe that he has an insightful view of recent transactions in the baseball labor market by virtue of his careful attention.
I might even believe him if he got Adrian Gonzalez’ first name correct.
In Peter Abraham’s defense, the “Alex” / “Adrian” error was mine, not his. Apparently the former is not nearly as attractive a throw-in!
My apologies to Abraham.
GC: you should probably fire the pet in charge of proofreading.
Being a Red Sox fan means digging pretty deep to find some type of reasons why “the Yankees suck,” except for the fact that their aging and expensive roster of primadonnas has actually made the playoffs and won some divisions in the same period that the Sox had to start over with a new GM, another new manager and rumors of the club being for sale. I have faith in Ben, despite what the average bandwagon Sox fan thinks, I just hate to see that type of pedantic sore loser shit that has become homerist sports ‘journalism.’ I wouldn’t say that the Sox are in a better position because they don’t have Tex, Cano and Mariano on the roster. That’s just lazy. If the Yankees had a revolving door at every position he’d find a way to spin that, too.
“GC: you should probably fire the pet in charge of proofreading.”
If i can do so while still calling myself a job creator, absolutely.