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Revisiting the Johan Santana Deal…
By Administrator | May 20, 2008
Where are the blowhards at / on WEEI tonight?
Where are Glen Ordway, Tony Mazzerotti and the army of Ordway sycophants who complained all winter and spring that Sox GM Theo Epstein somehow dropped the ball when he failed to pull the trigger on the Johan Santana deal this winter?
Where are the callers and “whiners” who castigated Young Theo and the Sox ownership for being too cheap to pay Santana (as if this ownership could ever be called ‘cheap’)?
Suffice it to say: that’s why the complainers are sports commentators and “whiners” while Epstein, Henry, Lucchino and Werner are baseball executives.
I expect that by 2:03 PM tomorrow, Ordway will be issuing formal denials that he ever declared that Epstein made a horrific mistake when he held onto CF Jacoby Ellsbury and LHP Jon Lester in lieu of trading them to the Twins in a package for Santana.
Ordway will be spinning the facts before his fanny hits the seat; but, it is undeniable that Jon Lester would not have been plying his trade in a Red Sox uniform tonight if Ordway and his minions had their way.
[Lest we not forget, the deal the Twins were seeking would have sent both Lester and Ellsbury, as well as Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson to the Twins]
Well Red Sox Nation, you can thank your lucky stars that Theo Epstein has the courage of his convictions. Where would the team be without Ellsbury and Lester?
Don’t get me wrong: Santana (5-2, 3.30) is a great pitcher… but was he worth $150 million PLUS Lester (3-2, 3.41); Ellsbury (.276, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 18 SB and 35 runs scored); Lowrie (.310, 1 HR and 7 RBI) and Masterson?
Back in January, I answered that question with an emphatic “NO!”. Nothing has changed…
At the time, I wrote that it is critical for the organization to develop its farm system as a means for seeding a competitive big league team — that the team should be built with prospects first and then augmented with select free agents. I wrote that the Sox will never be able to compete with The Evil Empire from a revenue standpoint — especially in light of the revenue stream that will be created by the new Yankee Stadium. Thus, I concluded that it is imperative that the Sox ownership / front office should be smarter than their peers in The Bronx, and elsewhere…
Thankfully, they are.
Topics: Miscellaneous |
