With the Red Sox it always seems to be about the ones who got away more than the ones that were snagged. I'm not talking about pitches or hit balls; I'm talking about players.
It's really funny to me when the front office decides to "upgrade" a position and the player that was upgraded away does better for his new team than his replacement.
Please understand, I'm not really a Red Sox fan. In fact, I have no dog in the hunt. It's just that the Red Sox, by dint of geography, are this area's home team. They're about 100 miles away, and their Double A affiliate is located in Portland.
I am a story fan. I enjoy a good story on a sports team. The Bird years of the Celtics made for good stories; they haven't really had any since. Maybe some heartbreaking stories, such as the death of Reggie Lewis, but nothing really good. The 1975 World Series was a great story, as was the 1967 Impossible Dream - both heartbreakers but great dramatics provided. The 2004 World Series, on the other hand, was a lousy, boring story that was overshadowed mightily by the 2004 American Leagues Championship Series. The 2001-02 Patriots were a great story. They made a terrific Super Bowl, one that hasn't been duplicated yet, in my opinion.
There are great stories with other teams too. I just don't know the players as well due to the aforementioned geography and what gets covered in this area.
Anyway, back to my original thought.
Players provide good stories, and it's often a sad thing to see them traded away or let go in free agency. Sometimes it's a great thing too, like when the Sox were finally able to unload Byung Hyun Kim. (I like to call him Bing Bong).
Trot Nixon was a bittersweet story. Fortunately he had a good day for Cleveland yesterday, getting 3 hits in 4 at bats.
His upgrade? JD Drew got 1 hit in 2 at bats.
Alex Gonzalez, perhaps one of the sweetest fielding shortstops Boston has
ever seen had 1 hit in 2 at bats yesterday.
His offensive upgrade? Julio Lugo got 1 hit in 4 at bats. The other three ABs were strikeouts.
Hmmm. Johnny Damon, the hairy centerfielder had 1 hit in 2 at bats.
His upgrade? Coco Crisp went 0 for 3 with 1 strikeout.
Hanley Ramirez, the Sox former up and coming phenom for shortstop, who was traded away last year for Beckett and Lowell, had 6 at bats, 4 hits, 2 of them doubles, 4 runs and 1 RBI. Neither Beckett, nor Lowell were "upgrades" for Ramirez, but I wanted to note one that got away.
On a good note, Dustin Pedroia who replaced Mark Loretta at 2nd base had a productive game with 2 hits in 3 at bats while Loretta sucked wind offensively.
Yeah, it's a long season. And these are just opening observations which will work and shift into something else over the course of 162 games. It's just fun to point out what seems obvious to fans but not to the front office.
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