Are the Red Sox the Next Evil Empire?

Don’t kill me, Red Sox Nation… Hear me out.

I was scrolling through the Braves message boards the other day and noticed a sentiment that is making small yet noticeable waves amongst the Atlanta denizens. Seems there is some loss of love for our American League counterparts among Braves fans. That’s odd.

You see, we in Atlanta have always loved and embraced the Boston Red Sox as our AL cousins. They are the Yankees daily nemesis and we love a little retribution for ‘96 and ‘99 (yes we’re still bitter). Also, our own Braves descended indirectly from Beantown and so we feel a bit kindred to the BoSox. In 2004, they were the scrappy underdogs that we rooted for hoping they wouldn’t but expecting them to lose…again. The Red Sox captured our hearts probably because they were a little rough around the edges, the anti-Yankee “idiots” that were the bane of New York’s resurgence in dominance. And they were transformed from underachieving ne’er do wells into heroes who miraculously came up big for the first time since 1918. Doing it all on a wing, a prayer and a whole lot of magic..
But when one Braves commenter expressed a particular distaste for the Red Sox going so far as to say that they were the next Evil Empire, it got me to thinking… Have the Red Sox abandoned the magic that broke the curse and now that they’re going aggressively after the talent in the league are they now the enemy?
“Evil Empire”, those are harsh words to come Boston’s way considering any comparison to the Bronx Bombers is nigh onto blasphemy for a Fenway Faithful. And no, I myself will not go so far as to say the Red Sox have reached the same degree of overspending and exorbinant Napoleonic efforts to corner every single Championship like the Yankees, but I will say there are some unnerving similarities I’ve noticed lately and a little bit of underlying truth to that statement.

This year’s Red Sox are not the Sox of years past or even of the magical 2004 comeback curse breaking season. But what have they become?

Gone Are the Days…
…of the lovable losers. The Cubs have that role well in hand now and are playing the lead uncontested front and center stage. For Boston it’s no more curses, no more bad luck, and no more doomed postseasons or epic disasters to stew about. Rather, the Red Sox have completely transformed into an American League powerhouse that seems destined to win each fall. Winning two World Series in 3 years, and en route to another possible title match, if you’re a lifelong Sox fan, you may have to pinch yourself to make sure this is still reality we’re living in. The Boston team is no longer a failed franchise perennially coming up short. They’re a team on a mission and stocked with exceptional talent. And ironically, with the upstart Rays in the picture, the Red Sox could keep Tampa Bay from completing their story book finish and actually play Ugly Step Sister rather than Cinderella herself.\

Paying the Cost to be the Boss
No they’re still NOT the New York Yankees in this department. They’re nearly $70 million away from that status of ignomy. But at number 4 in the MLB, they rank just behind the other New York team and the Tigers. Yes, we Braves fans have always viewed the big spenders as the enemy because they like to lure our talent away from us. In many cases it’s been New York doing the luring too. Sheffield, Wright, Farnsworth to name a few (you may have to put Teixeira in that list soon, but whether he signs with New York or not… he’s already turned down an Atlanta offer earlier this Spring so the Boras-inflicted damage has been done).

But now the Red Sox seem to be getting in on the act more than just a little. Spending the big bucks to land Matsusaka and pry JD Drew from the Dodgers may spark concern that the Epstein isn’t playing a Beane-type of money ball any more but the same Yankees high dollar game. No, they haven’t stocked-piled an Arod, Giambi, Matsui, Abreu lineup with the green but you cannot argue that the Red Sox are now immune to that approach. Remember, they were well in the hunt for Arod’s contract when he was ready to depart from Texas and Matsusaka is this year’s Matsui. But baseball has evolved over the years since free agency became the hallmark of every player’s career. Though the Rays are trying to shatter the mold by not throwing cash at all the high priced talent in the game to garnish champions, you simply can’t argue that a team that’s doing what it takes to win with their money is really doing anything wrong.

A Dynasty in the Making

The Yankees are on top of the hill with 26 Chamionships. It’s a record that may never be approached let alone broken. Meanwhile, the Red Sox now have added 2 more since 2004 and are seeking number 8 in franchise history. But if the Red Sox eliminate the Rays and get their third set of rings in 4 years, you can safely say a dynasty has been concieved. And if so, does that go against all that Red Sox once stood for? Have they sold out now since they, rather than blowing Fall Classics in historically significant ways, are doing what it takes to win? Has their identity become so inextricablly tied to losing that, yeah we’ll give them the curse breaker, but if you keep winning you might as well be the Yankees?

Hogwash.

Becoming a dynasty doesn’t make you a Yankee any more than growing ugly dred locks makes you Manny Ramirez. Don’t believe me? Besides if you want to go back 96 years, the Red Sox were nothing else but a dynasty. 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918. That’s a lot of pennants, folks and that’s who the Red Sox were. They weren’t the star crossed Bad News BoSox the last four generations have percieved them to be any longer. Get ready for a brand new Red Sox and the possibility of a few more titles before they’re finished with this current tear they’re on. Even if they don’t get the title this year, you can almost bet the farm they’ll be hanging around next year.

But putting together a successful run, spending progressively more dough, getting more aggressive with acquisitions doesn’t mean they’ve sold out or have become the next “Evil Empire”. It just means that the management and all the many cogs at work for the Red Sox have gotten it together and placed a well oiled machine on the field that their VERY faithful fans can be proud of night after night. Kudos, Boston.

Furthermore, we live in the era of the free agent and the big contract. There are no salary caps and no rules to sway Boras and his multi millionaire clients from seeking out the highest dollar in the land. Love it or hate it, it’s the sometimes sad reality of what our national pastime has embraced. Some teams may defy the odds every now and then like this year’s Rays, but if you’re a GM, you can’t always bet on the dark horse to win the race. If you want to bring trophies back to a big market town like the one in Boston, you’ve got to play the game the way it’s played. By that rationale, you can’t really fault the Yankees for what they do to win pennants either.
Until the way teams are put together and championships are won is changed entirely, this is “Baseball 2.0″. And if you want to hate the Yankees, or even the Red Sox for that matter, you can hate them for reasons entirely different than spending big bucks to win pennants. We’ve got about $40-$45 million to spend this offseason and by golly my Braves better spend every cent of it to try and bring a World Series back to Atlanta. I wouldn’t mind if we got a little “Evil Empire” in us too if it meant dancing in the streets again.

Tell next time, I’m JB and this is my Braves blog embracing the entire scope of the MLB for the Fall.

Keep Choppin’

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