9/9 -
We just finished watching the Bo’s ‘doz the Woes and kinda teared up thinking of how few chances are left in the dwindlin’ light of this fine season to bash the buzzards of Baltimore. Just one more cavort amongst the crabs of Camden Yard before the finish line. Sniff.

That put aside, it’s all about crunching numbers now. Tito’s titans have 23 to go with nine against plus teams; The reelin’ Rays (only barely plus), Angels and Yanks. Both the later will be looking to extend regular season dominance and create mojo for the post. We would be more than happy to see the Sox get a split on that six and two of three from weary TB. The rest are vs. Royals, Jays, Woes, and a final foursome v. Cle-Town (Come on down to say goodbye to fall guy Eric Wedge, bring lovely parting gifts).

The way it looks now, we kinda expect the Sox need three of that last four to get into the post. With the Red men in full fade mode (See just finished Texas sweep) and that set being at Fenway, we would put the percentage chance of Boston getting into the playoffs for the fifth time in six years at about 60.3% (margin of error +/- 2.4%). Not bad but certainly not bet the farm time, either.

Think about this: Where would The Red Sox be without that bonehead-of-the-year award-winner Andrew Friedman? He, the GM of the Rays, dealt Scott Kazmir to save about 2 million in payroll, at the post-season eligibility deadline and sent his team into a tailspin they might stay in well beyond this season. In so doing, Bonehead gave the Sox a far easier road to the wild card.

No matter what the fiscal merits of the decision might be, to dump a key rotation member with less a month to go and your team 3.5 games behind in the wild card hunt, is both dumb and dumbfounding. Think of it this way, would the Rays have made up that 2 mill in fight-to-the finish/post-season revenue, even if they lost in the first round? Probably. Since a trade in the off-season would have happened anyway, it really all came down to Friedman and club owner Stuart Sternberg betting against their own team.

Mark our words, The Rays will be a mentally wounded squad next year because of this decision. Players who had developed that Joe Maddon we-can-beat-anyone spirit, might have in the back of their minds, the thought that no matter how well they play, management/ownership could undercut them for fiscal reasons at any time. Add to that the impact on free agents weighing relatively equal contract offers (Wave goodbye to Crazy-legs Crawford?), and you get a much bigger picture to consider.

Sure the Sox have benefited from one less competitor down the stretch and the chance to pile on during that last three game series against the Rays, but the whole of baseball took a hit in the process.

(It is certainly far to easy to write the following, but still…)

Shame on you Andrew Friedman and Stuart Sternberg.

Shame on you.

Categories: 2009 Season