Shaughnessy's Stirring Up the Hornet's Nest

As a sports columnist for the Boston Globe, one of Shaughnessy’s roles is to stir up controversy. This is a perfect time to get Red Sox Nation in a rampage after three humiliating losses to the Yankees.

Shaughnessy wrote a column today titled, "Getting that sinking feeling," and as usually, he is only highlighting one side of the story. Thankfully, I don’t think Lucchino or Steinberg offered any inside info of the Sox downfall.

Shaughnessy noted:

"The SS Red Sox is sinking fast in the American League. The sun no longer shines on the handsome head of young Theo (wonder if he's signed his much-celebrated contract yet). The computer-geek management style has been thoroughly exposed in the last two days and there's a perfect storm brewing upstairs on Yawkey Way.

The way things are going, Young Theo might don that gorilla suit again, but this time he might need it to hide from an angry Nation of paying customers who want to know why nothing was done at the trade deadline and how you try to win a pennant with no lefty in the bullpen and a collection of dead arms and dead presidents (Mr. Van Buren, I presume) posing as major league pitchers."

What bothers me about this column is that Shaughnessy is throwing Theo under the bus, when in reality; he knows what is going on behind the scenes. He understands Theo is trying to prepare for the future and is not worried about the Boston media. Shaughnessy wants to believe he has GM-type control with the Sox.

Let us all remember a couple of things about the 2006 Boston Red Sox:

* Other than trading for Bobby Abreu, what other top player was available at the trading deadline? Greg Maddux only wanted to go to the West Coast, Clemens couldn’t be traded and Kip Wells, who was traded, is now on the injured list.
If the Sox had traded for Abreu, it would have cost them 20 million dollars due to next year’s luxury tax. I don’t know if he is worth that amount of money

* Theo may had made some trades if Varitek and Nixon had gotten injured earlier. While both of these players need to improve offensively, they are both important clubhouse leaders and play strong defense. At this time, you can see how important Varitek is to the young pitching staff.

* When Theo came back, he made it clear that the team needed to prepare for the long-term and not year-by-year. Once I heard this, I knew the Sox wouldn’t make it to the playoffs in 2006. Think about it? Fenway Park was sold out in spring training. If the team wins 90 games, which is still possible, it will be deemed a great season. Red Sox Nation will still pay the highest ticket prices to come to Fenway.

* These young pitchers need an opportunity to grow and that can’t happen if the team is contending for the playoffs every year.

Once Varitek and Nixon come back, the Sox could make a push for the Wild Card. If they don’t, it’s all right since they won the World Series in 2004. Senior management deserves some slack.