Monday, February 13, 2006

 

Rabid about Roger

I can't seem to get back into my bloggin' rhythm. So many things to write about... anyway, here's a post I started at the beginning of the week. I saw jere making veiled references to feelings I imagine to be similar to mine on the subject, so I decided to put this out there. Better late than never.

I was very much out of the loop last week while I was out of town, and was surprised when my client arrived on Friday talking as if Clemens was practically ready to lace up the cleats over RED SOX. Sure, I've heard the whispers even as early as before the trading deadline last year, but I've had a hard time taking this one seriously. Do we really want Roger?

Before you start waving stats about and shaking me by the shoulders, hear me out people. I'm perfectly aware of Roger's fine skills. I know how unhittable he was in Texas last year, yes, and please don't yell. Guy got shut out nine times last year, yada, yada, ya don't have to tell me. He's a great pitcher. He's old, could go south any day now, but far be it from any of us here in Boston to suggest that his best days are over... once burned, twice shy, you know.

So why am I dubious? Oh let me count the ways!

  1. Remember what he said about us last year? Roger does not like red sox nation. He thinks we like to complain. That we don't know how to be happy. That we don't know how to love our team. Roger listens to too much WEEI, methinks.
  2. Roger has only played the last two years because he was able to play for his hometown. He was able to live at home and spend most of the time with his family. Even if he were to get the same silly deal with travel here, pitching for Boston would involve being away from home most of the time.
  3. Roger costs too much money and would require special treatment. Isn't that why (I mean deep down in the unadmitted area) theo pushed away Pedro by bruising his ego? This is not a good ingredient to team chemistry.

The only inkling that could bring Roger here would be EGO. Maybe he yearns for that sentimental finish in a blaze of glory. Maybe he realizes the Hall of Fame will induct him with a Red Sox uni, so he may as well make some more positive memories here so he won't resent it. He came close to winning it all for his home team last year, which really would have put a cap on it... he won't come to Boston unless he firmly believes we can have it all.

I see this situation as a sentimental piece of coal being pressed vigorously by ownership - Our young stallions in the front office know what a fruitless effort this whole thing is, and have told John Henry to knock himself out.


Comments:
But what happens when you apply pressure, great monsterous pressure, on a piece of coal? If you get lucky, or you are Superman, (or Superwoman, in your case), a diamond emerges. Henry has the money. We have a glut of starting pitching which will be alleviated with Spring training trading by many teams, including us. That's my 3 cents. Keep the change.
 
that's why I chose the coal as a metaphor, peter*. Chances are that the coal will remain a dirty rock, but there is that small chance that the timing is right.
 
I was agreeing with your choice of words, Reb. Sometimes I take the long but entertaining way to do that. Quirky but nice.
 
Roger has NO humility, as I was told on a LaGuardia to Logan Shuttle Flight in 2000;
He mistook a catcher's head for the plate & a broken bat for a ball, in 2000; He now says that it's much-harder for him to do what he does over the years;
Roger? It's Time; Seaver tried this in 1987; he now grows grapes to make fine wines.
 
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