Sox split on Halladay, tired of losing players to the Yankees
November 29, 2009, 12:30 pm by iYankees · 6 Comments
From Anthony McCarron (Daily News):
According to a source, the Red Sox hierarchy is split on acquiring Halladay. GM Theo Epstein, the source said, does not want to surrender the Sox’s prime homegrown products – pitcher Clay Buchholz, shortstop/pitcher Casey Kelly and pitcher Daniel Bard – the Blue Jays are seeking. But Sox owner John Henry is believed to be the driving force behind completing a deal, the source said.
Epstein would rather use the Red Sox’s abundance of lower-level prospects to pursue a deal with the Padres for slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, or with the Marlins for former Red Sox farmhand Hanley Ramirez, the star shortstop. The Padres and Marlins are said to be seeking players on the cusp of the major leagues who would be under their control for several years.
Henry prefers to load up on star power instead of waiting for young players to bloom, like his mentor, George Steinbrenner – Henry was once a limited partner of the Yankees. The source also said that Henry has tired of losing marquee players to the Yankees in the winter acquisition scramble, going all the way back to Jose Contreras and Alex Rodriguez. Last winter, the Sox were presumed to be the front-runners for Mark Teixeira, but the Yanks swooped in to sign him to an eight-year, $180 million contract.
For the Yankees’ sake, I would rather see the Red Sox acquire Roy Halladay than reacquire a player like Hanley Ramirez. Hopefully, John Henry’s pride will trump Theo Epstein’s long-term plans and drive the Sox to mortgage their future (i.e., Bard, Buchholz, Kelly) for short-term gains (i.e., Halladay). The Yankees can deal with an aging Halladay as a Red Sox for a year or so (and, if he signs an extension with them, that’s fine given his age and the resources he’ll consume), but a Hanley Ramirez addition would be difficult to stomach as it would stabilize a premium position for Boston that they have had problems filling since Nomar Garciaparra was shipped to Chicago in 2004.
Photo via Boston.com
I totally agree with John Henry. It is disheartening for a team to lose out on deals because of sneaky tactics.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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If you offer a player more money to play for your team, that’s not really a “sneaky tactic.” Jealousy is also an unflattering trait, so perhaps you should work on that.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Sneaky tactics like low balling players? Or not wanting to spend money? Or maybe in the case of Tex sneaky tactics are the Red Sox telling Tex “if you can find a bigger contract take it”… Real sneaky!
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HuskyG How is it sneaky ? It’ business. If you don’t like the system move to a communist country like Cuba. It’s not the yankees fault that the red sox can’t get certain players.
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Actually the Red Sox can get all the players the Yankees can but at times they tend to pull the money figures back some like with Tex or Contreras because they don’t want to take the risk of more money, which is totally their choice but you lose out when that happens!
Hell the fact we won the WS is the fault of the Red Sox, had they just given Tex his money you would have seen Youk and Tex at 1B and 3B and they could have added V-Mart to play C as well. They didn’t want to give in to that last little bit and that is what cost them!
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