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Chat and Discussion Manny's own Red Sox discussion board
"I like to be fun... life is
Join the discussion now The interview room: Youkilis, Robert Parker, Johnny Pesky, Daubach, Leigh Montville, more. Remdawg's board Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer
The Nitpicked Venue of "Slavish" - Sean McAdam
"The Internet geeks are getting all the
interviews" HEADLINES 2004 2003 Please email for more information or questions. Contents Copyright 2001-2004 Boston Dirt Dogs, except logos used in accordance with the Fair Use provision (section 107) of U.S. Copyright Act. Photographic images posted with permission of Associated Press unless otherwise indicated.
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Sun. Feb. 29 Best Performance for a Motion Pitcher
Deron Snyder Gets His Manny
(Here's the scoop, Deron knows Manny from his days in Cleveland)
Next week, Manny will sit
down with the Poughkeepsie PennySaver for a Gordon Edes can just hold his breath. Trot's Not About the Money (are you listening Nomar? Pedro?) "Money's great, but it's not what makes the world turn," Nixon said. "I think a lot of people really believe that it does, but it's not. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful, the comfort, the stability I'll have for the next three years. The biggest thing is, I want to win a championship here. If other guys aren't looking for that in this clubhouse, then it's time to move on and go elsewhere." - Trot Nixon to Dave Heuschkel of The Courant.
Chasing Steinbrenner is the story of two journeys through baseball's most warped division. It chronicles the 2003 season of both the Red Sox and Blue Jays, and the people who run them. A few of the chapters regarding the Red Sox include the Contreras/Millar off-season, following Theo during opening day, and the inner-workings of a trading deadline deal.
Exclusive Excerpts from Chasing Steinbrenner: Now, with these strangers from a strange land putting the heat on, Kevin was being reminded of the family's mantra. "It!" was tattooed on his arm, and it was being ingrained in his brain. Midway through the group's second meeting, it was Chuck who almost allowed his son's preparation and pre-get-together focus to slide into oblivion. Kevin's dad initially appeared to be on his game, telling the Chunichi folks that with the impending military action in Iraq he wanted his entire family to be stateside. Chuck still had two sons in elementary school and didn't want them worrying about their big brother's safety overseas. Team Chunichi said no problem, the team would put the kids up in one of the area's best schools and hire a security detail to protect them. And if that wasn't enough, the Dragons offered Chuck $1 million and a house. That's when the kicking started. Kevin saw the look on his dad's face, and didn't like what he saw. The son started booting his father under the table, leading the pair to take an impromptu bathroom break. Once in the rest room the Millars just broke into laughter. Chuck was a lab technician who would commonly work two shifts a day, but was on the verge of turning his back on $1 million and a free house. It was all too surreal. If there weren't going to be laughs, there would be tears … some tears of frustration, but more tears of joy. The kid who didn't even hit cleanup for his youth baseball team was now telling his dad to politely dismiss more 0's on one check than either had thought they would see in a lifetime. The Millars had come a long way, with a hotel bathroom suddenly serving as the journey's most memorable checkpoint. - Read more of Chasing Steinbrenner and the Millar saga Sat, Feb. 28
Fri. Feb. 27
Pedro Sick of "Pedro" (and WEEI) 2.27.04: Boston Herald, Gerry Callahan: He said some people - he's not sure who - accused him of faking an illness last season to avoid pitching against the Yankees. He said that was bad, but this was worse. He said some people on the radio were making fun of him while he was in a Boston hospital last week caring for his sick, 5-year-old son. He said those people were accusing him of showing up late to spring training this year for no good reason. "And my son's lying there in bed,'' he said. "How would you feel? The doctors were more upset than I was. They heard about it and they wanted to write a letter, but I said I didn't need that. I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of talking, I'm tired of being the guy everybody comes to. I'm tired of everything.'' When he says everything, he means it. Moments before he lashed back at his stealth critics, Martinez was engulfed in Sox fans, signing autographs and smiling for photographs for hundreds of giddy snowbirds for half an hour. At one point, the crowd broke into a chant of "Ped-ro! Ped-ro!'' It was a nice gesture, but he really doesn't want to hear it anymore. "I'm tired of my name,'' he said. "Hey, Pedro, Pedro, Pedro. That's all I hear. Pedro, Pedro, Pedro. I want to change my name.'' - Pedro's the man
Thu. Feb. 26 A Little Scary
"After Ramirez refused to pinch hit at Veterans Stadium, 10 of his teammates went to Grady Little and told the former manager to bench Ramirez. If you don't do something, they told Little, you are going to lose this team." - Michael Holley, Boston Globe (And the insane clown posse still blames "the media" for the incident) BMWhaat?
Schilling BMW .gif courtesy of SoSH's manny25 Shaughnessy Spinning His Wheels "Schilling's cars have made a big splash in Fort Myers. The white BMW (760) with the spinning hubcaps is nifty, and then there's the vintage Hummer that changes colors depending on where you stand (blue to purple to green to teal)." - 2.21 Globe, Shaughnessy (Look for a correction in the Globe this week) But It's Not Curt's Car "Just for clarities sake, and for the sake of good honest reporting, I don't own a "Beemer", nor do I have hubcaps that spin, though my son does on his John Deere Tractor I think." - 2.21 Curt Schilling Schill Gets Excellent Mileage in Florida "Just something as stupid as... I don't own a white Beemer, how that got out that I don't... and then when you find out that the guy checked with the clubhouse guy to get his facts, my concern is that if you can't figure out that I'm not driving two cars to the park every day, you know, we're gonna have trouble here in August." - 2.24 CS on D&C WEEI Wed. Feb. 25 PROS AND CONTRACTS Not a Happy Camper
"How Would You Feel?" Nomar News Conference: The seat still fits. Can you believe after these three months, I'm still here in Fort Myers? That's pretty good. I'm glad. I was like, man, I wonder if the seats are still warm. They're still warm, which is nice. I'll tell you what, from my standpoint right now, all of this stuff is in the past, at least it's going to be put past me for the next eight months. I'm excited about our team. I agreed a couple of years ago not to talk about details of the contracts, and I'm still going to uphold that promise on my part. Talks have been going on. There have been some discussions back and forth. Where are they at right now? Where we're at right now is I'm here at Spring Training working out and getting ready to go. I'm going to fulfill that contract (I signed). We assumed we were going to resume the talks at the end of the season. But they were focused on something else. Who knows how its going to go from hereon out. I didn't know what camp I was going to come into this year. Right now all I can look into is one day at a time. I talked to Kevin, he's probably going to take me out to dinner tonight. All you guys are invited. We put that behind us, and now everything is really good. ...I was probably surprised when I heard about it (A-Rod to NY). I'm not about enhancing my position, that's not what I'm focused on. On his future in Boston: It's just day to day, 'cause that's all I can go by right now. That remains to be seen and everything and I'm not really worried about that (next contract), and I'll let have someone else kind of focus on that and take care of that for me, cause that's really what I pay them good money to them as well and my job is really to go out there and play the game, that's really what I'm really focused on looking at that when that time comes and it's something that I can really look at, and take serious, then I'll address that issue when it comes. Continued Gammons says Nomar Negotiations Not Going Well. The Red Sox look at it like 'well, you know, if you take the numbers, Edgar Renteria is the same player as Nomar Garciaparra, and Cabrera isn't that far down below. I don't know if their willing to go to $16 million, I don't think Nomar is going to be willing to cave in." - Peter Gammons on Nomar "Nomar understandably isn't real happy. His last meeting with Theo and Lucchino didn't go well, as he felt Henry might well have been there. No hometown discount. Hometown could have been Comiskey Park... The Dodgers are not going to be a $100m team, and Paul DePodesta will be hard to buy on Nomar... He will never make excuses, but I think he had a tired wrist at the end of the season. I am told he is in unbelievable shape, and while his relationship with the club, may be strained, he is up for his best season since '99." - 2.23: Peter Gammons on TheRemyReport.com "Nomar will leave treadmarks getting out of Boston next winter. " - 2.23: Another National Sportswriter
Pedro is in the House
"I think the hammer is with
Pedro, this (A-Rod to NY) impacts him much more than Nomar, because
clearly the Red Sox have become obsessive about the Yankees, and
let's face it, the hammer out, their worst scenario is Pedro ending
up a Yankee. Which I think Steinbrenner would go for in a heartbeat,
if he went out on the market."
On expectations: Game 7 is over, let's move on... I hope it is that we are the team to beat, but I don't want to say it, I want to do it, that's the main role. We have to go out there and prove it, not just talk. Yapping you won't win ballgames. On he and Schilling to push each other to higher levels: No. I don't expect anybody to push me. I expect to be healthy and push myself. I don't need anybody to push me. I would like to help him and I would like him help me when I need him, if I need any advice or something he can pick up, but I don't think I need an extra push. Anything different this off-season: I rested a little bit more, I rested for like a month and a half and it paid off because I gained the 10 lbs. I lost last year and I feel great physically. I actually feel like in those young days when it was easy to pick up a ball and just gas it somewhere, so I hope I can maintain that. On Zimmer incident and (making up with New York for some reason): I don't need to call him, he doesn't need to call me. I didn't do anything wrong. I was trying to protect the man, and he kind of tried to punch me, so I had to let him go. I was totally aware that I did not want to hurt the man. I did not intend to hurt him or throw him on the ground. I just had to let him go because he tried to hurt me, he tried to punch me and he was very embarrassed and he apologized. I didn't feel like I had to because I didn't do anything wrong, I went out there like everybody does whenever there's a fight, and I would do it again, and this time I hope I don't find somebody like Zimmer and I would do whatever to protect my teammates and I'm pretty sure he understands that, and that's the only reason I went out. I didn't go out there with the intentions to hit Zimmer or anybody. I actually respect him a lot. I respect Joe Torre and the whole coaching staff. When I went to my head like this I just said "I remember" not "I'm gonna plunk somebody on the head." I'm a professional and I know what a life is to a person, so I did not mean to say "I'm hitting you in the head" like a lot of the people in New York actually, put in the papers, I just said "I will remember" in Spanish to Jorge, I remember what you're saying and that he mentioned my mamma's name, in a bad way. On going into the season without a contract: No that won't bother me, I'm actually aware that it's not up to me to get a new contract, I'm just gonna go and compete like I have to. Like a professional, for my year contract, that I have and if they don't want to sign me, that's fine, I'm pretty sure I'll probably get a job with somebody else. But if they do, I'll be more than happy to stay here. There are no talks, none. And I'm not expecting it, I'm not looking forward to it. I just expecting to work this year and actually let them make the move. The ball's is in their court. Continued Tues. Feb 24 On "Dirt Dogs" Gaining Value in the Post Steroid Age "Absolutely. With the threat of testing last year, no one hit 50 homers. This spring, heads and necks may seem smaller, and we will hear the expression "personal nutritionist" ad nauseum. Good, I want to see the Nixons, Variteks, Millars, Ortiezes, et al do well." - 2.23: Peter Gammons on TheRemyReport.com Juice Guy
Mon. Feb. 23 He's Insulted
Steinbrenner's Mad as Hell Over Henry's Remarks Georgie Porgie will file a grievance with Commissioner (Hello dummy, let's face it – you put the 'suck' in success you hockey puck of an owner) Padres owner John Moores: "George is one of the most profoundly selfish people I've ever known. I don't know if Steinbrenner is losing his mind as he gets older. I guess he wants to win 162 games a season. This is one terribly bad deal." Big Daddy Arrives
Ortizzle Only Spoke to Manny Once this
Offseason "I had a good relationship with Manny and Manny doesn't talk much. I don't know what he's got on his mind right now. Manny's a bagful of news and I just hope everything works out the way everybody expects.... I always say that it's good to love the game but it's not good to get in love with the team that you play for because things happen... Boston is a great place to be," Ortiz said, "but tomorrow you don't know where you're going to be." - David Ortiz 2.23 Sun. Feb. 22 It's a stretch to say "injured" but Foulke (and Schilling) Tweak Calves in Workouts Sunday (Schilling ready to go with his Hank Aaron 44 schirt today)
Last Episode of Sex and the City.
(And parents really need to talk to their kids about Sox.
He is A-Fraud "He (Alex Rodriguez) also spent a considerable amount of time, in his conversations with the Sox, telling them how much he hated the Yankees, the industry source said. When Rodriguez first told Texas owner Tom Hicks he would waive his no-trade clause for two teams, the Yankees and Red Sox, he included the Yankees only to give Hicks, and himself, some leverage in dealing with the Sox. - 2.22 Globe, Edes
Saturday Night Live: "The Yankees gave A-Rod something the Red Sox couldn't: a boyfriend. - Jimmy Fallon, Weekend Update, 2.21.04 Queen: Soundtrack of the Red Sox Yankee Rivalry Let's Party!
Pedro and Manny in Camp on Monday Open and SoSHut Case on Lucky
John Henry Sets Record Straight on Lucchino: "Larry Lucchino is a scumbag and always has been. Everyone in baseball knows this. Get used to it. Bottom line: Selig wanted HIS scumbag to run the Sox. O'Donnell had scruples about this frame-up. Henry obviously did not. Now Henry, and us Sox fans, have to live with this ugly reality. The ARod scenario is not the only thing Lucchino has screwed up for us so far, and there will be more of the same. Lucchino is part of the "price" of Henry's getting this franchise and it's a very steep one indeed.
I just hope that Lucky hasn't
lost us Nomar for good although I fear he has already."
"Tom owned the Padres. He sold the Padres to John Moores and Larry Lucchino. He remained a partner of theirs. Tom witnessed first hand over the years what kind of CEO Larry was. I also was aware of what kind of CEO he was and I spent quite a bit of time with Larry when I first became involved in ownership, because frankly I thought he provided inspired leadership and ran a team as well as anyone in baseball. He was then and is now a mentor - someone I admire very much (as evidenced by extending his contract out into the long-term). Tom asked Larry to join their partnership long before I became involved. Again, they had owned the Padres together for several years. The absolute truth is that the commissioner had nothing whatsoever to do with Tom bringing in Larry. Eventually I called Larry and sort invited myself in (to the surprise of the commissioner - when I told the commissioner I had an interest in joining forces with Tom and Larry he exclaimed "What?!" ) What does he bring to this team? I would hesitate to answer for fear of leaving out something. The organization he's built speaks for itself. I get a lot of the credit, but my contributions are small in comparison. One cannot exaggerate how extraordinary the relationships are within upper management of the Red Sox. Larry, Tom, Theo, Mike (Dee) and everyone else involved love working together and feel privileged to be in our positions. It may sound too hunky dory, but it's how all organizations should function. Communication is easy, frank and passionate (like SoSH!).
From my vantage point Larry
brings everything we could ask for in a CEO to this team.
D-Lowe thinks he'll be marching out of town in 2005. Friday/Sat Feb. 20, 21 One, Two Punch
Rotation is a Knockout Thurs. Feb. 19 PEDRO LATE SHOW
Petey to Report Late Due to
Son's Operation in Miami. Martinez "has a very legitimate serious family issue that's going to be fine but does require his attention,'' Boston general manager Theo Epstein said Thursday. He declined to give further details, but the situation is believed to involve the health of a family member. "He's going to do everything he can to get down here, but there's a chance that we might not see him till Monday night,'' Epstein said, ``but we'll know more about that in the next couple of days.'' - 2.19 AP Report Motorcyclist Killed by Martinez' Driver As reported here Wednesday, Pedro is distraught after his personal driver and relative killed a man on a motorcycle in the Dominican last week (Pedro was in the states when the accident happened). WARNING: If anyone overreacts with shouts of "Dominican Diva!," "Prima Donna Petey!" or worse, your ISP will be banned from viewing this site forever. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt will ya? We always do :-) ...(plus, Schilling will kick our ass with his martial arts moves down in Ft. Myers if we pick on Pedro this early) Tek was on the Table for A-Rod "It was interesting, the Yankee people were telling me that, I don't know if you guys saw Tom Hicks' press conference, but A-Rod's first... A-Rod asked if they could revisit the Red Sox and that Hicks said after the nights and days of dealing with them, he didn't even want to talk to them again. And it was interesting because the Yankee people were telling me that indeed, Scott Boras was trying to work the Red Sox angle, he was trying to do the same kind of deal, get Manny out of the equation, get a guy that makes $6-7 million and then work it down to the $16 million to make it all palatable, they would have traded Nomar for pitching or whatever and according to the Yankee front office, when Boras tried to do that deal (A-Rod to Boston, but getting Manny out of the equation, a week and a half ago), the player, because it's his client, that was going to go to Texas in exchange for A-Rod, was Jason Varitek, which, as they pointed out, they felt, the Yankee players and front office feel that Jason Varitek is the absolute soul of the Red Sox, but, and I found that interesting, I hadn't heard that, but the Rangers, Buck Showalter loves Varitek, but Hicks didn't want to deal with the Red Sox, according to him, and according to the Yankees." - 2.19 Peter Gammons, ESPN, on WEEI's Big Show
"If we can make a deal with Nomar that makes sense for both sides, and gosh knows we've tried, and we're gonna try, it'll get done, and that hasn't changed one bit." 2.19 Theo with Dennis & Callahan WEEI - On hearing A-Rod was going to New York: "I probably dropped a four letter word or two, but then you fall back on your... it wasn't totally unforeseen, they did a good job of keeping it quiet to their credit, so we didn't see it coming that day, I first heard the rumblings about it Friday night, as soon as Boone went down, it became a real possibility. And then you just fall back on your approach with regards to the rest of the AL East, and the Yankees in particular, which we take, I just assume every year it's just going to take 100 wins to win our division. Before Boone's injury, when we were walking away from our deal in essence, it was the remotest of possibilities, after Boone's injury, it became much more of a possibility. I remember talking to my baseball operations staff and we kinda just informally made of list of which guys they were going to go after and A-Rod's at the top of the list. Chavez, Alfonso, guys like that, but I didn't think it was a probability, I thought it was a possibility. No (on revisiting A-Rod at that point), it was done. It was very clearly over, and we had stated publicly that it was over, and it was indeed at the time. On Nomar getting leverage now. How did it affect relationship: Probably not much at all, you kinda go back and look at my public statements, I think the whole organization's public statements, throughout the whole thing. Our first priority was to sign Nomar to a deal that makes sense for both sides, it's always been the case, and we're not going to discuss negotiations publicly, that's still the case. If we can make a deal with Nomar that makes sense for both sides, and gosh knows we've tried, and we're gonna try, it'll get done and that hasn't changed one bit. On guys in their last year of contract, will they all be back? Will there be signings opening day? We actually have six guys if you throw in Ortiz and Williamson. I think it's probably unrealistic to expect that each and every one of them to be back, that's going to be very, very difficult if not impossible to do based on our payroll limitations, but I don't know, it's very hard to predict the future, it depends on the player's expectations, the direction of the market, and our ability to reach a deal. I do know this, our goal remains the same, our goal remains take our resources, which are considerable, and do everything we can to build a championship club and that's going to include some of those guys, and it's not going to include some of those guys. But the bottom line is for the guys that don't come back, we just move on, and you have to go to the next generation of talent of Red Sox players. Every negotiation is unique. The Trot Nixon deal got done for a number of reasons. One, it got done quietly. Two, Trot and his agent through their words, and then again eventually through their actions, demonstrated a real desire to stay here and not max out every last dollar. Market correction or not, and that can turn around on a dime, Trot certainly could have maxed out and played one more year to see of there was one team out of the 29 other teams out there that would pay him more than what we did, but that wasn't the most important thing to him. The most important thing to him was staying here, reaching a deal that made sense, like Curt Schilling, reaching a deal that would allow us to go out and build a competitive team around him, and go out and win, so that got done in a hurry. The Portentous Lucchino to Trump: "You're Fired!"
John Dennis: If this
were the baseball version of The Apprentice, who in the Larry Lucchino: I think that's a silly question John with all due respect. The blame game has gone on too long. I know the media loves to do that. The answer to that is "no one," I suppose what I'd turn do is turn off the television because I wouldn't want to watch Donald Trump make that stupid hand gesture any longer. 2.19.04 Lucchino on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan: I did not talk to Tom Hicks prior to the deal. We had lunch about a month ago at the baseball meetings. I did talk to the commissioner over the weekend to find out what the facts were. Occasionally these things get overblown and reported inaccurately. I called to find out what the actual facts were. It was a call to say what were the details here. Is this thing going to happen. The $67 million transaction was unprecedented. Is it permitted? And what are the standards going forward. Would I have liked the commissioner's office to have found something inappropriate about this deal? Sure, but it was not our position, and we didn't rant and rave and try to throw our bodies over the tracks. This whole issue is being blown way out of proportion, it's time to move on. By our likes, the differential (on getting A-Rod) was closer to $25-30 million. You can't make all your plans with one eye on the Yankees. Certainly our most hated and heated rival is the Yankees, but we have to deal with the other teams within our division that have improved, and teams in the West. It's a question of limits. Everyone would like to have a beautiful home on the Cape right on the water, but you have to live roughly within your means, but that's gotten lost in the media frenzy. The blame game has gone on too long. JD: If this were the baseball version of The Apprentice, who in the Red Sox organization would Donald Trump fire? LL: I think that's a silly question John with all due respect. The blame game has gone on too long. I know the media loves to do that. The answer to that is "no one," I suppose what I'd turn do is turn off the television because I wouldn't want to watch Donald Trump make that stupid hand gesture any longer. LL: I think that (Gene Orza/PA) was the major impediment. We had a deal with Alex Rodriguez, we reached an agreement with him at 3:00 in the morning. We had a conference call to celebrate, but he went to the player's association and that's when it got derailed. Will someone on this radio show start recognizing the positive things happening with this baseball team. Stop the self pity, and the blame game. The Yankees got a good player, no question about it. Look at our left side of the infield. We've got a future Hall of Famer and the reigning AL batting champion. Nomar is fine. He understands that these things are part and parcel of the game. People think one transaction determines the outcome of the year. The media sent John Henry dozens of questions and phone calls, he was simply responding to issues put to him. We try to be available. Green Bay has a much easier time being competitive in the NFL than Milwaukee does in baseball. I did recognize that it was being overblown (in December), but it was being overblown, but not in a way that was adverse to us. There's probably more criticism of us because of the national perspective, because of the history here, there's a little more emotional fuel here. I wouldn't change this rivalry for anything. It adds some zest and spirit to life. There's a kind of intensity and competitiveness that adds a spice to life. (Listen to Lucchino's WEEInterview with Dennis & Callahan here) A-Who?
Here We Go Ace is in Great Schape, and Gets Bonus Points for Wearing Our All-Time Favorite, Phil Esposito #7 Bruins Jersey into Camp (But Dan Shaughnessy says Curt has a "domed belly") "By the way, I am always amused when a member of the media even thinks of commenting on the physical makeup of an athlete, at least the ones who are in no way shape or form athletic. That being said, I will tell you that what I possess is not a true body, it's a cruel family joke I've had to put up with for 37 years. I am built like my dad, all chest, no legs. Anyway, based on my initial tests at API, compared to my exit tests, I am stronger and more flexible at this point in my career than I ever have been, no doubt in my mind about that and the results from the tests proved that to them, and to me." - 2.19, Curt Schilling - SoSH/BDD off the record. "I want to be caught up in it (Yankee rivalry). The way I've got it figured, I'm starting that first game against the Yankees the way the rotation falls. I've known about that for two months." - 2.18 CS, AP/media. Wed. Feb. 18
Steingrabber Slams Henry "We are not evil!"
"He chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston"
"We understand John Henry must be
embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by Pepsi Calls for Salary Cap on Coca Cola "To deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams. One thing is certain the status quo will not be preserved. There must be a way to cap what a team can spend without hurting player compensation ... without taking away from the players what they have rightfully earned in the past through negotiation and in creating tremendous value. There is a simple mechanism that could right a system woefully out of whack. Baseball doesn't have an answer for the Yankees. Revenue sharing can only accomplish so much. At some point it becomes confiscation. It has not and it will not solve what is a very obvious problem." - 2.18.04 John Henry, Red Sox Owner (Confiscation: To seize by or as if by authority.)
Kurth '04 Yankees Sheffield Bought From Giambi 'Roid Dealer Affadavit Names Ego Empire All-Star
Lay Off Lucky!
Inside Outspoken NESN shows Schilling's "Internet" post on A-Rod deal, Tewksbury Tells Curt to "Be Quiet and Pitch"
Tewks then Calls Manny Bad Teammate for Being "Unaccountable" by Skipping Yankees Series Last Season.
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After
years of tracking down the elusive superstar, Snyder gets exclusive
while Ramirez stiffs Boston fans and media again, and vows to be
silent for another season.
Theoretically
Speaking
his failure in this
transaction. Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra
distance for his fans in Boston. It is understandable but wrong that
he would try to deflect the accountability for his mistakes onto
others and to a system for which he voted in favor. It is time to
get on with life and forget the sour grapes." - 2.18.04 Georgie
Porgie statement
2.17.04 NESN's Inside Out -
Bob Rodgers: I think he says it well (after reading
Curt's SoSH post)
Have to laugh at anyone that's even remotely
shocked by this. The unlimited payroll bitching
is rather old now too. It is what it is, and
we'll deal with it. Does it make them better,
well I don't know. Does adding a guy that, when
he retires, has a legitimate chance to be the
best all around player in the games history make
you better????? Hell yes it makes them better,
offensively, defensively it's not even close,
they get much better. Fact of the matter is the
ownership of this team chooses to build a team
based on in depth talent and character analysis,
as well as payroll impact. You can't bitch and
moan about the lack of effort on the Red Sox
end, they reached for the stars on this, and it
didn't fit.