You’d be forgiven for mistaking The Red Sox’ AAA team in Pawtucket for the Billionaire’s Club. Over the past 10 to 12 months, the PawSox have played host to a number of the parent club’s more well-heeled, handsomely-paid mistakes. Between Pablo Sandoval, Rusney Castillo, David Price, Robby Ross and Brandon Workman, to name a few, the players on the field at any given time may have earned more than the entire state of Rhode Island. It was like a dream come true for a disability law firm or financial planner. For the rest of us, not so much.
But now, the Sox have cut ties with at least one of these money pits. Allen Craig, who earned about $31m from the Red Sox in exchange for some hapless at bats and a perpetual faraway gaze, has been released.
That said, Craig is leaving at least one purely magical moment in his Red Sox wake. During Don Orsillo’s last game for NESN in 2015, the players assembled on the top step of the dugout to wave their caps and salute him. That is, all but Craig, who came stumbling out at the last minute, and barely got his cap off his head before basically saying, “fuck it,” and returning to the clubhouse.
Was it worth the money for these few, fleeting seconds of comedy gold? Yeah, pretty much.
