Sox do the right thing by spending
Friday, December 10, 2010
Seriously.
I’m a Yankees’ fan first and foremost, but I’m also a fan of corporate conglomerates, America, and the unalienable right to spend your hard-earned cash however you damn well please.
With that said, it’s refreshing to see Boston – a team that for years has tried to play the “woe is us” card in reference to the free-spending Yankees, when in reality they’ve finished among the top five in payroll in nine of the last 10 years – put its revenue back into its product.
Take note, small-market owners; this is how it’s supposed to be done. When you have money coming off the books, such as the Sox had this winter, you go out and get quality players. Boston had more than $45 million coming off the books this year, including $12.5 million from Mike Lowell, $9 million from Julio Lugo and $3.4 million from Jeremy Hermida. Lugo wasn’t even with the Sox last year, but they were still paying parts of his salary after trading him to St. Louis in 2009. Another $10 million came off the books when Adrian Beltre declined to pick up his player option for 2011.
The Sox had money to spend and, as expected, they’ve been spending it briskly this winter, acquiring first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in a trade with San Diego that will ultimately result in a contract extension reportedly worth close to $154 million over seven years, and late last night reaching an agreement on a seven-year, $142 million deal for 29-year-old outfielder Carl Crawford.
Two years ago, they failed to acquire prized free-agent Mark Teixeira, who ultimately signed with the Yankees, but the difference then was they didn’t have as much money freed up as they do now. What Boston’s ownership has proven this winter is that they are more than willing to spend like drunken sailors if they have the money to do so, similar to what the Yankees did two years ago when they used all the money they had coming off the books to acquire Teixeira and pitchers C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Ironically, Boston owner John Henry publicly called for baseball to adopt a salary cap in the aftermath of the those blockbuster acquisitions by the Yankees, yet he's apparently changed his tune on the sport's lack of competitive balance now that the Red Sox are the ones abusing the system.
Whether Sox’ fans want to admit it or not, their team is more similar to the Yankees than they’ve been led to believe. Just like the Yankees’ outrageous 2009 spending spree, this year’s check-writing spectacle by Boston comes off the heels of a season in which they dropped to third place in the American League East and failed to make the playoffs. New York retooled following its miserable 89-73 finish in ’08 and wound up winning the World Series the following year.
Are the Sox heading for a similar fate? That depends on your interpretation of yesterday’s acquisition. Crawford making $20 million per year might seem a bit steep when you consider he’s not a terribly patient hitter, nor has he ever posted an OPS higher than .851, and his contract would make him the first player in baseball history to earn $100 million without hitting 20 home runs in a season (for the record, he hit a career high 19 last season, so he’s close).
On the flipside, Crawford is a game-changer with his speed and an incredibly valuable defensive outfielder. Last year, Crawford posted a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 6.9, which was tied for the sixth highest total in the league behind the likes of Albert Pujols, Ryan Zimmerman, Beltre and league MVPs Josh Hamilton (A.L.) and Joey Votto (N.L.) – not too shabby. Likewise, Crawford posted a UZR/150 of 21.2 last year – second only to Yankees’ outfielder Brett Gardner. For those of you who don’t live in your mother’s basement, that means Crawford is worth 21.2 more runs than the average outfielder over a span of 150 games. And Crawford also finished third among American League outfielders in defensive runs saved (14), which is important considering Boston’s outfielders finished dead last in that category last season (-41) despite their hilarious efforts to build a team based on “run prevention.”
Crawford’s speed on the bases might not translate as well in Boston when you consider the fact he probably won’t need to run as much because this lineup shouldn’t have to rely on small-ball to manufacture runs. As he gets older, the ability to steal bases might become a concern, but keep in mind Scott Posednik of the Dodgers stole 35 bases last year at the age of 34 and Rickey Henderson stole 66 the year he turned 39. Crawford is still only 29 years old. The best part is Beltre will likely sign elsewhere, which means you don’t have to worry about your prized outfielder fracturing his ribcage in a freak collision with your brawny third baseman.
Again, you could complain about the money, but, as Bill Belichick would say, the market “is what it is.” The Nationals set the bar pretty high when they gave 32-year-old outfielder Jayson Werth a seven-year, $126 million contract, and yet the Sox still didn’t have to go too far beyond that figure to land Crawford. Boston’s recent spending spree not only makes the rivalry with New York that much more fun, it also raises the Yankees’ level of desperation to sign free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee. In the wake of Boston signing Crawford, they’ve already increased their initial offer to Lee’s agent to include a seventh year.
More importantly, the Sox have reinforced the idea that if you have money to spend, you need to reinvest it in your product. This is how you win ballgames and keep your fans interested in buying what you’re selling. The war between dueling bank accounts is what puts asses in the seats and creates villains in baseball’s annual storyline. And as we all know, you can’t have drama without a villain.
What’s even funnier is Boston has another $55 million coming off the books after 2011, so the monetary diarrhea flow is only going to get more insufferable next winter. This is American ingenuity and greed and its finest. God bless the U.S.A, and God bless your Boston Red Sox.
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