Reader Mo Green -- who, rumor has it, made his bones when you were going out with cheerleaders -- makes a good, and often overlooked point in the wake of the Dice-K story:
It may be time to re-examine Theo’s free spending ways. 5 years, 55 mil for J.D. Drew, 4 years 36 million for Lugo, 50 mil just for the privilege of talking to DiceK, another 50 mil over 6 years to keep him. There’s almost 200 mil circling the drain instead of the bases.
No the Red Sox don’t spend as much as the Yankees do, but they do spend a lot. And when it comes to financial advantages, it’s not always about how big your payroll is. Being able to absorb bad contracts without taking a competitive hit is critical too, and the Sox have certainly been able to do that. We so often hear people call Theo a genius while saying that Brian Cashman simply knows how to write checks. I think it’s far safer to say that each of them are pretty good at the others’ alleged forte.
(oh, and nice CTB reference there, Mo!)