Top 15 Red Sox Fans Evil Empire Comments

Ok so the Red Sox fans out they are quite humorous, I thank them for that. Their defense of the Red Sox spending hundreds of millions, and the comparison to the Yankees have been quite entertaining. Forget about Saturday Night Live, reading the Red Sox fans facebook comments is a great source of comedy. Better yet, there are no commercial breaks here either. Anyway here are some of the best/interesting comments (excuses) I found: 

The majority of these comments all came from the same guy. While I might not agree with everything he says, I would like to see the guy make a Red Sox Blog one day. 

A-Rod Cheered in Spring Training

Perhaps you are tired of hearing everything that relates to Alex Rodriguez. He has done a great job of deflecting media attention from other players, so their hasn’t been much news during Spring Training. He also did a great job of drawing cheers from the fans earlier today.

Today was the first full-squad workout, and A-Rod’s first appearance in a Yankees uniform in 17 months. As he stepped onto to the field just before noon, he received cheers from the roughly 500 fans in attendance. Alex also received cheers about an hour later, when he came out of the dugout for batting practice. Alex Rodriguez took 36 swings and hit 3 home runs, receiving an applaud from the audience for each homer.

Hideki Matsui and Alex Rodriguez were the only Yankees to draw any noticeable cheering from the fans throughout the workout. Matsui is currently with the team as a guest instructor. Despite their only being 500 fans, there were a hundred members of the media in attendance.

This is important for Alex, regardless how little cheering generally impacts the game. A-Rod having fan support is significant, considering his comeback from his use of PED’s. When we look at other baseball players who used steroids, many of them have the support of their fan base. Barry Bonds had the Giant’s support, Roger Clemens is beloved in Houston, Manny Ramirez is loved in Boston, Ryan Braun has the Brewers support. Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta also have received support, especially after their strong 2014 seasons. Yankee fans, whether you like him or not, booing him will not make him a better player. Let us root for him to be productive, the relationship still has 3 more years to go!

Boston Red Sox the new Evil Empire?

The Boston Red Sox have spent big this offseason, to a degree that they have been compared to the New York Yankees. Larry Lucchino does not like the comparison between the two clubs saying : “We are different. We run our clubs differently. There’s a commonality in our willingness to invest in sizable sums for baseball players, whether they be short-term additions or long-term development projects. So in that sense, we, the Dodgers, the Giants — a lot of successful clubs — are willing to pay the price and write checks.”

Analyzing this statement, he doesn’t really express what makes the clubs different. Perhaps it is denial, or maybe he is giving the Yankees a compliment and is referring to their two last place finishes in the past 3 years?

“It’s a question of pattern and consistency over time — that’s one way to distinguish. But we’re not going to not avail ourselves of what we think is a very good baseball opportunity because someone is going to compare us to the Yankees…We operate differently. They run their franchise. We run ours, ” said Lucchino.

So basically in a politician like fashion, Lucchino said that it is acceptable to spend money if it is a good opportunity to the Red Sox. Or in simple terms, he said that if they do it then it is fine and he doesn’t care what people call the Red Sox. Very interesting quotes from the man who termed the Yankees the Evil Empire. Again though he has failed to come up with a reason on what sets the teams apart in their strategy.

“But the pattern, the practice, the history are all very different.”

Unless he is alluding that the Yankees have never been in a situation where they needed to be jealous of the Red Sox, or to the Red Sox 3 world series in a 10 year span, then this is just another string of words that really don’t say anything.

“We’re very different animals, and I’m proud of that difference. I always cringe when people lump us together with other baseball teams,” Lucchino said in February 2014. “They are still … relying heavily on their inimitable old-fashioned Yankee style of high-priced, long-term free agents. I can’t say I wish them well, but I think we have taken a different approach.”

Umm Mr. Lucchino, I hope you know that the sentence I italicized is the very reason reporters are drawing these comparisons. You are not really helping your case, lucky you didn’t chose a career as a lawyer. Your team is up there with the Yankees for one of the oldest teams in the sport. If the Dodger ownership wasn’t looking to make splashy headlines, you still would have been paying unproductive players in Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford. What is the different approach? When your team won the World Series in 2013, you did it with aging veterans and free agents. I thought that was supposed to be the “Yankee way”.

“In player payroll, we’ve never been [at the top], at least in recent years, we’ve never been at the stratospheric levels of they and the Dodgers and some other teams.”

Maybe because you traded your contracts to the Dodgers and give up completely on a team midway through. Just a thought.

So his argument might have been pretty bad, or very good if you are a politician. However, it was the Red Sox fans themselves that were even worse at defending his claims. Here are a few facebook comments from the ESPN article:

Ben Wislon· Top Commenter 

“Like the yankees? When was the last time this Sox gave a 7+ year contract to a late 20s entering 30s free agent? When was the last time the yankees locked up a prospect for full team control during the players prime? The yankees overpay for aging free agents that had their prime with another team.”

Hmm So many. Let me see Jon Lackey got 6 years $83M at age 31, but with a vesting option at 500k if he missed a season because of an injury. So that would be a 7 year deal. Also the Carl Crawford deal of 7 years $142 million, that he signed heading into his age 29 season. Oh and Adrian Gonzalez got a 7 year $154 million at 29 after being traded to the team. Not sure how many more I should say, the bandwagon fan won’t know who these players are anyway.

Michael Stevens

“Hanley Rameriez (sp?) will be 36 when his contract is up. The Panda will be 34. This kid is 19 going on 20, so he will be 26 or so. The difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees is when the contract is up. When is A-Roid done? When will Sabathia? As much as I miss Lester, Lucchino stuck to his guns on age. That is the difference he is claiming and it is hard to argue. He does not deny that the Sox spend.”

Stuck on his guns to age, he signed Mike Napoli after 30. David Ortiz is 39, and look at the above posts and see the long term contracts the Red Sox gave to those guys. Oh and the Pedroia deal lasts until an old age too, he is signed until 37 and might already be declining. Yikes! Koji Uehara is 40, guess he read Koji’s age backwards then. Oh and what about Shane Victorino, might have been a 3 year deal but he was 32 when he signed. Just because the Red Sox let Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury go doesn’t mean they don’t sign old players.”

Brock Janiak

“There IS a difference in how the teams spend

Redsox signings

Yoan Moncada- The 60mil DOES NOT go towards future payroll, its strickly out of the RS’s pockets. Its as if John Henry bought a new house. Moncada is subject to regular prospect payment (3 years league mininum + 3 years of arbitration)

Rusney Castillo- Only 26 years old, and is being payed only 12mil a year. Not a big commitment

Hanley Ramirez- Only a 4 year commitment”

Yeah it doesn’t count to payroll, but similar to the luxury tax the Red Sox were taxed heavily for signing Moncada. They have to pay the tax by June 15th I believe, that is going to be some hefty pay check. Not to mention he is likely starting at Single-A, and a few workouts might not mean he is the next big thing. Although I think he can be pretty good. Everything is strictly out of the teams pockets, not like they start a fundraiser to get money from the other 29 teams. Rusney Castillo is an unknown who signed to a 7 year deal, pretty ballsy. To say that 12 million is not a big commitment is just another indication of how much your team spends, when you suddenly think that is cheap. And only a 4 year commitment, it is to an injury prone player. I thought the Red Sox let Ellsbury go because of his injury problem, why are they signing a defensive liability to be injury prone. At a position where they have a surplus too, why pay “just” 22 million to Hanley.

I could add more comments but they all go this way pretty much. Kind of sad how they can’t come up with a valid point yet, maybe that means Lucchino is wrong?

Texeira on a diet and more

Mark Texeira has announced that he is on a new gluten free, sugar free, and dairy free diet. He plans to use this diet for the remainder of his career and hopes it will help him play injury free. This along with the return of his weightlifting program have Texeira optimistic. So much in fact that he expects to hit 30 home runs and 100 RBIs again. If he can capitalize on his prediction, that will be music to our ears.

Texeira has added 13 pounds of muscle so far, and has also been losing fat. He said daily one hour treatments throughout the season were not fun, and this is what helped him commit to his new diet. Mark Texeira is not concerned about hitting the ball away from the shift saying: “That’s exactly what the other team wants, to take a middle-of-the-order power hitter and turn him into a slap hitter.” In order to combat the shift, Texeira said that he would try to hit more extra base hits and walk more often.

Mark Texeira finds it ironic how he was once a rookie in Texas being mentored by A-Rod, and now he will be mentoring Alex on how to handle 1st base. Mark said having a decent backup is important and that he plans on teaching Alex Rodriguez some things.

In other news, Hank Aaron publicly said that he supported A-Rod. Hank Aaron says that he has had the opportunity to talk with Alex Rodriguez in the past, and considers him a nice person. Aaron said he would even consider going to games that Alex plays in. Hank Aaron was very forgiving of Alex, and was looking forward to see what he can do this year. All Yankee fans should embrace Hank Aaron’s sentiment.

Mariano Rivera was spotted in Spring Training recently. Mo is working as a Spring Training instructor for about 2 weeks, and Girardi says that it is Mariano’s decision what he chooses to discuss with the players.

Those were the biggest stories of the past two days. My apologies for being unable to post yesterday, had an unforeseen incident occur yesterday that took up the time I set aside typically for blogging. I will try to get another article out today though.

Andrew Marchand’s “The 24 plus one Yankees take the field”

So originally I had plans on awarding the first ever Baseball Oscars this night. That plan came to a halt after seeing an utterly ridiculous tweet by Andrew Marchand posted just an hour ago. Some of you may have no idea what I am talking about, so the tweet can be seen below:

The '24-plus-one' Yankees take the field http://t.co/Ou8eeePG1y

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) February 24, 2015

My first reaction was just utter shock and disbelief. I thought it was Wallace Matthews who had the role of ESPN’s negative Yankees beat writer locked down. But no, as Spring Training approaches their is some stiff competition in that field, with Marchand joining the party. A senior writer doesn’t have enough substance in his articles that he needs to disparage the people he writes about? Seems like a pretty deadly case of insecurity, might need Scooby-Doo to investigate.

I mean look we all criticize people, I did it earlier today when I was frustrated that the Yankee management were afraid to sign Moncada. But that tweet is nothing short of slander and propaganda. Actually those two terms are way to lenient, that was mudslinging in its purest form.

After seeing that title, Mr. Marchand lost my respect. Now I didn’t lose respect of Andrew Marchand the person, I respect all human beings and their right to think freely for themselves. I did however lose respect for Andrew Marchand the journalist. I didn’t read the article, I would suggest for your own mental well-being that you take that same precaution.

The title alone couldn’t have been more offensive, disparaging, or downright disrespectful. To isolate Alex Rodriguez, as if he is a separate entity from the other 24 players couldn’t be a bigger lowball. The Yankees are a thing called a team; this team contains 25 players. All of these 25 players are united as one in representing the Yankees on the field. To break away a part of the team to hurl a cheapshot at individuals is pathetic.

It is amazing how a player can upset the Yankees for showing up to work and upset a senior writer of ESPN. Apparently I am not the only one who saw those comments as inappropriate, as other people tweeted in response condemning the headline. I mean I can do the same thing as Mr. Marchand and hurl cheapshots at people over the internet. I have instead decided to be an example to him and show him that you can live a happy life covering the Yankees or any sports franchise, without tarnishing the reputation of others. Perhaps he just wanted an attention grabber. I would give him advice that A-Rod could probably relate to “No attention is better than negative attention”

Moncada and the Blown opportunity

ESPN has reported that the Red Sox are near a deal to signing Yoan Moncada to a $30M signing bonus. Now I tip my cap to the Red Sox for taking the initiative to improve their team for the long haul. In the same breath I would like to condemn the passiveness of the Yankees front office, most notably Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman. It is hard to fathom how the Yankees were too cheap to acquire top notch challenge.

Perhaps I am making it a big deal, as it would have been a hefty price to acquire the 19 year old Cuban infielder. I understand that a 100% tax is a tough thing to accept. At the same time however, the Boston Red Sox accepted that and signed Moncada. Now I am not jealous that the Red Sox got Moncada, I am just perplexed at how the Yankees allowed the opportunity presented to them to slip away. Now we have high expectations in New York, and we haven’t had a number one draft pick since 1991. That is 24 years for anyone who hasn’t taken the calculator out yet. The Yankees opportunities to sign number 1 pick caliber players is very limited, so when one shows up in free agency there is no reason not to exploit that. The Red Sox even termed the Yankees “The Evil Empire” for their ability to outspend every other team. So it is not like they didn’t have the financial resources to make it happen.

The other big piece of this that really irks me is that the Yankees will be unable to sign any international free agent for over 300k (300,000) for the next two signing periods. In simple terms that means by whiffing on Moncada the Yankees will still be unable to compete for future young talent internationally. Another part about this is that the bonus can be paid in up to 3 years. Giving Moncada a little over $10M for the next 3 years in nothing in comparison to the other current contracts that  the Yankees are receiving no value out of. Just think about C.C., Texeira, A-Rod, just to name a few players that the Yankees are overpaying.

Just take a look at what was in Bleacher Report: “Yankees offered $25M with willingness to go to $27M which is same offered Jorge Soler who went to Cubs for $30M,” Sherman noted. He went on to compare Moncada’s reported deal to Alex Rodriguez’s remaining contract: “So with tax, Redsox will pay $63M to Moncada or about what Yankees owe A-Rod ($61M) for the next 3 yrs.”

I mean come one Cashman, you gave Chris Capuano a $5 million contract but couldn’t give Moncada the extra $5 million needed to sign him. Oh George please enlighten these poor business men on the utter failure that just occurred. Maybe they should be sent down to Single-A. Who knows maybe they will get to see Moncada again there…

Here is Cashnumb at his next press conference. 

Jeffrey Maier’s glove auctioned off

Well I am not old enough to recall the play itself, but its significance to the Yankees and the game of baseball is very notable. Back in the archaic days of no instant replay, a home run was ruled instead of fan interference. The ball was caught by a 12 year old boy named Jeffrey Maier, who reached over the wall to snag the home run, hit by Derek Jeter on October 9th 1996.

A-Rod’s Decline

ESPN has an interesting sport science video outlining the decline of Alex Rodriguez since he won his last MVP award in 2007. It points at how generating the power of a baseball swing begins with hip rotation, and A-Rod has hip impingement which restricts hip joint movement. Up to 60% of his body mass can lag behind during his swing as a result. This forces A-Rod to generate most the power of his swing through the upper body, and to start his swing earlier. Over time his stance has become 75% wider, and he no longer strides forward but does a small legkick. These adjustments have slowed Alex’s bat speed by approximately 2.5 mph.