What were you doing a year ago? Probably basking in the glory of a World Series win for your home team. Counting off the days until the equipments truck rolls south, visions of REPEAT tugging at your thoughts. Kneeling down and giving thanks to the great Red Sox organization; the personnel genius of Theo, the marketing wizardry of Larry.
How have we gone from that to…well…this? The day to day operations are like watching daytime television. Part game show (spin the wheel and win new players! Sorry, you’ve landed on “trade prospects” – goodbye Hanley!) and part Jerry Springer (today’s episode – “How being GM helped me learn how to love”). You can almost see a brightly painted clown car screeching into Fort Meyers and having Larry, Jed, Theo, Ben, Craig, John Henry and Tom Werner tumbling out.
Worse than the slapstick antics is the fact that the trust is gone. The press release last week was riddled with inconsistencies and contradictions. Even the great spin doctor Larry couldn’t make me believe. There was no power struggle, but there was “friction” and “discord.” Jed and Ben knew they were interim GM’s but that pesky little word “interim” slipped out of the press release. Larry and Theo have the same roles and responsibilities as a year ago, yet Theo couldn’t accept it in October. They’ve “hammered out a vision” but they won’t tell us what it is.
All in all, it made good off-season fuel for discussion. It kept our minds off the Celtics and Bruins and bridged some of the gap from the Patriots to spring training. The deals are still getting done and the Red Sox will field a very good team in 2006. In my opinion, better than the one in 2005. Seriously, how many fans in other markets even know the owners and GM’s names? We’re passionate (obsessive) and the media certainly helps feed our habit with information. The bottom line is, there will be baseball again in a few short weeks. GM and owner discussion will turn to OBP and ERA numbers and what the hell is Tito doing and why didn’t we bunt. And I can’t wait.
