Missing The Crew
I was just reading this on ESPN.com and felt the same way. I miss last years team, the emotional connection, the community that was built:
Honestly, I would have been fine with bringing back last year’s nucleus, even if that meant four more years of the Derek Lowe Face and “Who’s Your Daddy?” chants. I also would have been fine with moving forward, as long as last winter’s moves made sense. For instance, we gave up a Human Standing Ovation (Roberts, who wanted to play every day — like they couldn’t have found him 350-400 ABs?) for three stiffs (including a career head case who admittedly staged a dugout argument to get traded two weeks ago). We also paid $40 million for a “29-year-old” All-Star shortstop who appears to be between 34 and 37 years old (no lie). Two other free agent targets (Pavano and Beltre) turned out to be Grade-A busts on other teams, continuing the bizarre ritual of GM Theo Epstein’s getting bailed out of dubious offseason moves (Contreras, Vazquez and the A-Rod/Manny/Nomar/Ordonez quagmire) because other teams squashed his plans.
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Here’s the point: The Red Sox tried to have it both ways. And you can’t create a “Let’s not dwell on past achievements, we need to build the best team possible and keep moving forward” mind-set, then give ninth, tenth, fifteenth and twentieth chances to Bellhorn, Foulke, Embree and third base coach Dale Sveum (who would have spawned a potential riot at Kenmore Square in any other season). Were we moving on from last year or clinging to last year? If we’re clinging to last year, why not keep Cabrera and Roberts (two of the most beloved players from that team), and why wait until the last second to sign Pedro (only the most significant pitcher in the history of the franchise)? And if we’re moving forward, how could Embree keep getting chances in close games, how could a clearly-injured Foulke keep getting thrown out to the wolves, how could Sveum keep his job when he’s clearly incompetent, and how could somebody slumping as painfully as Bellhorn possibly keep playing every day?
Now there are many new faces, and many of the same challenges to overcome. Let’s go World Champions!