I noticed that the Red Sox released Brad Penny today to make room for Billy Wagner. First John Smoltz, now Brad Penny… How’s those offseason moves working out for you? If you recall, while the Yankees were shopping at Neiman Marcus for A.J. Burnett, C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, the Red Sox were rummaging the clearance rack at WalMart for the likes of Brad Penny, John Smoltz and Rocco Baldelli. I’m certainly not saying you can’t find a bargain now and then, but it reminds me of a saying a wise man once told me…”You can’t polish a turd”.
The Red Sox whined and complained when New York outbid them for Teixeira saying that it was unfair and they couldn’t afford any more… please… You don’t say that when you outbid all the other teams besides the Yankees, do you? Stop it. If you have a bitch, its with baseball itself for not putting in a salary cap. Look, I don’t blame the Yankees one bit for playing within the existing rules, if they have the cash and its not against the rules to spend it, then why shouldn’t they? I don’t want to hear the Red Sox crying poverty, they sell out every game, have lucrative TV deals and sell plenty of merchandise. I travel all over the country and see Red Sox hats and shirts everywhere I go. So if you want to compete with New York, then open your wallet.
Of course the season still needs to be played out and there’s no guarantee New York will win it all and the Red Sox could still get in as a wildcard and do some damage in the post season. But while the Bronx bombers don’t seem to have a weakness or hole in their lineup, Boston’s Terry Francona plays “where -can-I-hide-Jason Varitek-in-the-lineup” every night. Sometimes the season hinges on what you did in the offseason and this year the Yankees treated their fans to a nice dinner at Ruth’s Chris steak house and the Red Sox took theirs to McDonald’s.