I'm not one to post negative articles, but let me say that Boston is making 1 screw-up after another.
Matsuzaka's 51.1 MIL posting fee, which is leading to "dicey" negotiations. Did they outbid everyone because they wanted Dice-K or did they planning on overbidding the Yankees at all costs?
Hrm...
How much is J.D. Drew making to play for Boston again? My guess is "way too much". With all the negativity Rocco gets from Rays fans, for his "injury prone"-ness, he won't make 1 years of Drew's Salary unless he saves his next 3 year's salaries. I wonder why up to 8 teams are making us trade offers for Rocco, if he's so "fragile?"
Hrm, again...
(Now this is my most negative part of my post)
After the 2007 Season is complete and Boston is once again sulking a playoff-less baseball season/loss of their "Young, Great GM", Boston fans will ask:
"What's the tipping point that costed Theo Epstein his job?"
If someone had asked me, I'd say that the signing of Julio Lugo was it. It made the Coco Crisp Trade-and-Sign look idiotic, to me at least.
Let's get it straight, Julio Lugo was an "okay" player. He wasn't horrible, as he once was in Houston. However, I was happy that we traded him and got decent prospects for him. He was having a career year, pre-trade, for the Rays in 2006. Coincidentally, it was the year before he hit free agency.
Someone light a match, I think Adrian Beltre stepped in the room.
While some writers think that we only trade our best players, basically being the farm system to the rest of baseball, my question is "Will the Rays honestly miss Toby Hall, Julio Lugo, Aubrey Huff or Mark Hendrickson?"
Probably not, why would we?
Julio Lugo is a small-statured, Eckstein-esque player, but nowhere near DE's ability. He's on the downside of his career(signed through the age of 34/35) and Boston is hoping that he'll be a great leadoff hitter for them.
Thank god that they have Kevin Youkilis, seeing as that thought will be a short-lived plan either during or after Year 1 of Lugo's contract.
While Boston fans are happy that they finally got Lugo, they'll be saying the opposite when his poor defense/poor base-running/mediocre hitting costs them an important game.