Wednesday, February 5, 2020

The cheating (Cora-gate) Redsocks are preparing to tank. Again.

With the dumping of Mookie Betts and David Price, the signal-stealing Redsocks are signaling to their fans that 2020 will be a year to ignore the pennant race and hate-hate-hate the Yankees. If we know anything about the good, Yankee-loathing people of Boston, it is that - when it comes to going full-negative on a season - they always rise to the occasion.  

Surely, you know by now that Boston last night - during the State of Union Address, no less - dealt the beloved Betts and the over-priced Price to Los Angeles, a trade designed to shrink their payroll below the de facto salary cap, (which will likely cause a MLB strike within the next two years.) Betts was a year shy of free agency, and Price had become an outcast among fans who only saw his 7-year, $217 million contract, which in 2015 was the most expensive in history for a pitcher. (Not any more. The Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to 9-years at $324 million.)

In return, Boston gets 23-year-old Alex Verdugo, who, like Betts, was a regular on Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list, before getting called to the Dodgers last summer. He played in 106 games and hit .294 with 12 home runs, which puts him into the same once-around-the-league strata as Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird. Take your pick. He could replace Betts entirely. Or he could flop. Apparently, the Dodgers were willing to take that chance. 

Boston also picks up from Minnesota the terrifying RH reliever Brustar Graterol, who looked overwhelming in the AL Division Series against the Yankees. He's only 21 and already looks like a veteran closer, throwing 101 mph sinkers. The question, though, is whether a 6'1" youngster who throws that hard isn't destined to visit Dr. Andrews. They say Graterol will probably start the year in Pawtucket. My guess is that they need him as their opening day closer, just to justify the trade. 

Either way, you can see the wheels turning in Boston. Jackie Bradely Jr. could be next to go, and if, by June 15, the team is stumbling, Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi could be on the block. That's how Boston works. They tank. They have won four world championships in this century, and each was preceded by a self-induced mediocrity.

2004 championship - two years earlier, they finished out of the running, 10.5 games behind.

2007 championship - the previous year, they finished third, 11 games out.

2013 championship - the previous year, they finished fifth, 26 games out.

2018 championship - (with asterisk for cheating) - in both 2014-15 they finished last in the AL East, far far away from any discernible race.

I don't write this to condemn them. They are simply smart. It was not until the Yankees decided to tank in 2016 - the trades of Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller - that our current team took shape. Along with cheating, the Astros were built via the tank, and teams throughout pro sports succeed through that cynical strategy. If things go south in April and May, Boston will start looking to 2021 or 2022, and their fans will understand. Yeah, management broke their hearts by trading Mookie - who bore many of the adorable traits that Big Papi once defined (especially in a city full of intense and shallowly buried racial animosities) - but if this new guy hits, all will be forgiven. Besides, Mookie will be in LA, and quite possibly face the Yankees in the World Series. They'll have something to root for in October, after all.

If these two youngsters fail, by July, you can bet that Boston will crash the team around Rafael Devers and Eduardo Rodriguez, with a giant FOR SALE sign around everybody in captivity. And just watch: Every trade or salary dump will involve teams that might face the Yankees in the playoffs. Because that will be the defining interest of the 2020 Redsocks: As long as the Yankees lose, all is fine. So long, Mookie. Hello, Tank.

10 comments:

  1. They are such a trashy organization. My best friend is from Liverpool and swears that the Fenway Sports Group claims poverty ‘across the pond’ and says they never have the money to lock up fan favorite players on the soccer team. So everyone in Liverpool assumes the ownership group spends all their money on the Red Sox. I told her last night that, nope, they screw over there baseball fans too. She was stunned. She literally couldn’t believe that they screw over their own fan base every four years for a year or two. That, and they cheat. And whenever someone leaves the organization, ‘unnamed sources’ always throw them under the bus to al Globezeera with character diminishing stories.

    Shit bag team

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  2. "al Globezeera".

    Thanks. I'll be using that.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. First off, you have to give the Sox their due.

    The Betts trade is a really smart one. By dumping his salary plus Price's they reset the luxury tax.

    What this means is, if they decide to try to resign Betts as a free agent they will not be paying extra (Tax). Plus they get the players from the trade and they get rid of Price (who is both injury prone and not a fan fave.)

    There is no down side that i can see. Even if Betts doesn't sign with them they got back their financial flexibility.

    That said, the window for us is WIDE open this season. WIDE! We'd better take advantage of it.

    And, just for fun. Let's sign Betts after the year is up. You will notice that great Yankees don't become Red Sox but great Red Sox make the switch easily.

    Doug K.

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  5. My Red Sox loving friend posted on his Facebook page that the Red Sox have killed his inner child by trading Mookie. He has asked me to sit shiva on his Facebook page. I cannot find an appropriate GIF. ( I did find a GIF of Barbara Striesand, but she appears to be mocking someone in it, and while I am not one of the Chosen People, I assume "mocking" at a shiva is inappropriate). Could anyone refer me to a site where I could download a GIF of a dish of kugel?

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  6. Technically you're correct about the mocking. However, Rabbi Akiva Pointed out that's when one goes to a Shiva regarding the Red Sox. Mocking is not only appropriate. But it is down right Talmudic.

    Doug K.

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  7. The Sox are still paying $ 16 million per year on price's salary for next 3 years.

    Red Sox are in between a rock and hard place. Not counting Bett's 27 million arbitration win, between Price, JD Martinez, Eovaldi, Pedroia (who hasn't really played in 2 yrs),and Sale and that's almost 120 million per yr! for 4 players! Oh...and they still owe Rusney Castillo over 14,000,000 this year and he hasn't been a Red Sox for 3.5 years. So make that almost $134 million in Red Sox salary for 4 players on their 26/40 man roster and 2 not on their team. Sale is David Price, Jr. He ha a skinny build with way too many innings on his arm. last year is an indicator of what's to come from him. Their farm system is beyond abysmal and when MLB metes out their penalties, they will lose top 2 draft choices the next couple of years too.

    My rabbi who doubles as my guru and said if you want to sit Shiva, you'll need to bring a few extra arms.

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  8. YES, Doug K.!

    Signing Mookie would be perfect for CF, assuming that "Estevan Florial and the Very High Ceiling" doesn't make it.

    By the end of this year, Gardy should really be showing his age and who knows what Hicks will be doing? Time to upgrade!

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  9. Yankees announcing that Paxton had surgery and will be out 3-4 months.

    I look forward to seeing him in early September for a few innings. Gottdamn Jujus!

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