In November of 2003, Curt Schilling posted on the Red Sox fan forum at redsox.com on Thanksgiving night. The next day they announced his signing. I was a regular poster on the Red Sox fan forum in 2003 and I missed it. I all but ignored all of the hype surrounding the ‘possible’ signing of Curt Schilling. But I certainly embraced it when the Red Sox actually did sign him. And I started truly believing the new owners wanted to win.
A couple of weeks later, I was riding with a friend to a Christmas party when WEEI announced the Red Sox signed Keith Foulke. I turned to my friend and said, "we just won the World Series". And for probably the first time in my life, I REALLY believed it was going to happen. The hope that I had was fueled with good thoughts and hardcore talent. I haven’t felt that hope in a couple of years. And now Theo and company dangle "Dice-K" in front of my face…
I’ve already been told by Yankees fans that I can no longer complain about the money the Yankees spend because the Red Sox bid $51million + for bargaining rights. First off, I don’t complain that the Yankees spend a lot of money. But I know that’s a big complaint of a lot of baseball fans.
I actually get a kick out of the money Steinbrenner throws around to win championships when he hasn’t won one since 2000. More so because it causes him such anguish. All the better to watch the felon get worked up. That’s my main problem with Steinbrenner. He’s a criminal allowed to basically run MLB. But since his downfall keeps coming, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show.
But I digress. The Red Sox made a huge bid. I was out last night ("12 Angry Men" for those who asked. If it comes to your city, go see it. Amazing ensemble cast.) and found out the news via text message. Looking at the number written out $51.1 million…I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I’m fairly certain there aren’t many people in the ‘real’ world who can truly fathom that kind of money.
Thinking about it more, I realized that the bid was pretty bold. But also smart. Regardless of what all the sour graped fans will tell you, just about every team in MLB wanted Matsuzaka. The Red Sox knew there would be at least a team or two willing to bid high. They had the insight to place the bid just where it needed to be. Had they bid $12 million lower, no one would be complaining. Had they lost the bid by $1 million or $2 million to the Mets, no one would be saying "how dare the Mets bid $40 million!" But they WOULD be saying, "the cheap Red Sox couldn’t even bid $5 million more?". The Red Sox wouldn’t be winning with the press or the naysayers either way.
Either they’re equally ‘evil’ to the Yankees for spending a lot of money, or they’re the "cheap" ownership they’ve always been accused of. There are plenty of comments throughout this blog from the past year and a half from Yankees fans trying to rub it in my face that the Red Sox wouldn’t spend money on the team. Accusing Theo of being stupid and not having a plan. Well, Theo obviously has a plan and is executing it accordingly.
I believe the Sox will sign Matsuzaka and I hope (and believe!) that he’ll be as good as advertised. But I also understand that with bold moves comes great risks. But so many have complained that the Red Sox are afraid to make those bold moves and now that they do they’re being criticized for it. At least by some.
As regular readers know, I don’t usually frequent blogs or websites for other teams all that much. Especially not the Yankees. But I spent some time tonight perusing some Yankees blogs. It’s interesting how many Yankees fans are so critical of this move. One wonders how critical they would be if the Yankees were the team to have won the bid. I’m guessing the reaction would have been the same had the Mets come up the winners, but I doubt they’d be complaining if the Yankees had the opportunity to sign the premier free agent pitcher of the season.
I’m impressed that my team has shown such initiative. They’re establishing a presence in Japan, they’re putting the team in a great position to win (Schilling, Beckett and Matsuzaka in the starting rotation? Yeah, I can live with that!), and they are showing that they aren’t giving up by settling.
I remember that hope I felt late in 2003…that feeling is creeping in again.
Edited on Thursday morning based on comments here and a discussion I had on the way into work:
I find 2 things very interesting about the naysayers. 1) People seem to forget that if it wasn’t for the Yankees spending like Steinbrenner had a money tree in his back yard, no other teams would have to start spending the same way to compete. You can only sit back so long and say, "I’m not stooping to that level" until you actually have to realize that if you want to compete, you need to compete on EVERY level. Including spending. Sadly, many teams aren’t able to do that, luckily, the Yankees main rival is. and 2) Of COURSE this is a risk, as I already wrote. But what should the Sox do? Just sit back and do NOTHING because it might fail? The Red Sox weren’t the only ones willing to take this risk, they just were able to put a bigger price tag on it. If people didn’t take risks, they’d never achieve greatness. I’m all for a few big moves now and then even if they don’t end up panning out. I suspect, though, this one will.
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