Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 04, 2003
Misquoting Star Wars

Bambino's Curse gets the quote wrong in the title, but the concept is correct. Quoting Bryant in the Boston Herald (requires subscription):


The Red Sox, Larry Lucchino especially, may like to point to the Yankees as the ultimate, dangerous free-market machine. But the personality during the brief Henry Era has been to collect stars not necessarily through barter, but by simply crushing the rest of the field with greater financial resources. It is, of course, very much a Yankee way of doing business.…

If the Yankees are indeed the Evil Empire, then the Red Sox are its Evil Twin. It is no coincidence that most of the individuals above were targeted by both teams


Baseball Musings had this metaphor and the correct quote in October. Hard to see, the dark side is. :-)


Posted by David Pinto at 10:42 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Yes, I agree that the Red Sox are among the teams that are not afraid to use their financial resources to persuade a player to come to Boston (see Keith Foulke). Maybe it's because I'm a Sox fan, but somehow there's a difference between what they do and what the Yankees do. There's an end to how far the Red Sox will go. They aren't willing to buy marginal talent for 300% of market value (see Raul Mondessi). Of course, I'm probably just jaded.

Posted by: Derek at December 4, 2003 10:53 AM

Dave,

I got the quote wrong?

I won't argue it, but if you do a Google search on "Luke, I am your father" you get lots of hits.
http://www.google.com/search?q=luke,+I+am+your+father&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

So I'm suggesting, then, that the quote, correct or incorrect has entered our cultural parlance.

It's sort of like how everyone gets the famous McCluhen quote wrong saying he said "The media is the message" when really it was "The media is the massage."

Pedantic am I.

Posted by: Edw at December 4, 2003 11:53 AM

Yanks and Sox are just alike.

Sox just can't seal the deal, that's all. They both buy players above market, if needed.

Posted by: Jayho at December 4, 2003 12:16 PM

The difference between the Sox and The Yanks is that the Yankees buy players at above makt value and have 26 Chamionships to show for it. The Sox buy players for above Mkt value and have 1918 to show for it. If the Red Sox had won 26 trophies the dialogue would be reversed and the Sox would be regarded as the Evil Villians. Of course there is also the rampant hatred of New York as a city, a culture and a microcosm of all that is right and wrong and inbetween in America.

Complex issue to be sure, but one that has its roots in sour grapes and the hatred of success. Americans are a bunch of hypocrites at times, and I don't mean to make disparaging comments about America, I love this country passionatley despite it's flaws. We love success, opulence, accumulating wealth and beating the competition, but we have a very deep rooted guilt about being too successfull for too long. We love to tear down the successful. Maybe it's part of a necessary cycle that ensures growth and opportunity. We love rooting for the underdog to succeed and once it has, we search for a new underdog. Interesting phenomenon if you ask me.

Posted by: steve at December 4, 2003 01:01 PM

The difference around the margins in the payrolls (and revenue streams) of these two teams is significant. The Yankees can afford to pay free-agent money to guys they know will hardly pay at all. The Red Sox have a large payroll, but risk and financial obstacles actually must enter into decisions made by the Red Sox. The Yankees are the only team that flouts the luxury tax. There are just no consequences for the Yankees if they make a bad signing. No other team can say that. They can also afford to keep players indefinitely.
Imagine this news story: "Soriano and Posada are both up for free agency next year, New York will be forced to give one of them up for financial reasons." Yeah right.

There is a backlash now because the Red Sox management is actually smart and they are able to do *a few* of the things that the Yankees have been doing for a long time.

Complain away that the Red Sox and Yankees have high payrolls and price other teams out of the market for free agents - this is true. But it is silly and ignorant to equate the two teams.

Quite simply, the Red Sox cannot afford to do many of the things the Yankees do (for example stockpile nearly 2 rotations worth of quality major league starters) to insulate themselves from risk.

(Note: the argument that the Sox are forced to behave this way within their constraints to try and compete with the Yankees, thus making it all the Yankees' fault, feels petty but there may something to it as well...)

Posted by: Matt Davis at December 4, 2003 01:31 PM

Yeah, Boston can't afford to match the Yankees dollar for dollar. Yeah, that's why the team was sold recently for $700 million...the highest sale price of any baseball franchise in history. Oh, and they own NESN, their own sports cable network. Oh, and they're 400 miles away from any other major league franchise. Oh, and they're finding ways to pack more fannies into the Fens. Please, the whining should desist. Of course, there's the possibility that a dollar in Boston's not worth what it is in New York.

Posted by: John at December 4, 2003 03:47 PM

The Red Sox, despite a tiny park, are in good financial shape. But the Yankees are all alone in their private stratosphere. How much do you think the Yankees would sell for?

Posted by: Matt Davis at December 4, 2003 05:37 PM

What the Yankees and Red Sox to a lesser extent are doing is bad for the game. In no other sport are fans treated to matchup would could have a matchup where one team has more talent in terms of $ by a factor of 3, 4 or 5 times.

I don't know if there is anything that prevents this or not but I'd like to see the other teams strike back. It's TV that is the major difference in revenues. I'd like to see the smaller market teams say to YES! and the Yankees that they cannot televise any games with them as participants w/o revenue sharing for those games. Yankees bring in probably 25-30 times the revenue of some of the other teams which wouldn't be there w/o another team there for the Yankees to play.

Posted by: John Gibson at December 4, 2003 07:52 PM

TV Revenue is not the sole arbiter of team payroll. Ok? The Yankees pay so much more because they are WILLING to and the other teams ARE NOT.

Steinbrenner isn't the richest man in baseball I wish people would get that point through their skulls.

Posted by: steve at December 8, 2003 12:48 PM