OK, I admit it. At 2 p.m. on Saturday when ESPN announced that the Yankees were acquiring Alex Rodriguez , I completely freaked. “No!” I screamed. My housemates rushed in to ask what federal building had been blown up. Even worse- the Yankees are gonna’ get A-Rod.
Now that I’ve had half a week to reflect on it and put it in perspective, I’m convinced it’s not quite that bad. The Yankees, in typical fashion, have come in and ruined the spirit of baseball by buying one of only two players who were more expensive than their roster. Their trade was perfectly within the rules of baseball, but it was still diabolical. The Evil Empire exists, and one need go no farther than New York, our snobby cousin to the north to find it.
Still, my fellow die-hards of Red Sox Nation reacted to news of the trade as if it was the end of the world. With moping depression, all of New England simultaneously freaked out. Did anyone else see Ben Affleck at the Daytona 500 on Sunday? He was ranting and raving about how the trade ruined the spirit of baseball, and how it was the worst thing to happen to the game in decades. Last time I checked, Ben worked for Miramax out in Hollywood, and they seem about as close to Yankees owner George “the Boss” Steinbrenner as you can get in entertainment. What happened to the Ben from “Good Will Hunting” man?
Let’s be real here, there’s a reason they play the season. Last year the Yankees narrowly escaped my Sox because of the biggest bonehead managerial decision in major league history, only to be chumped by a low budget team from a mid-major market. Everyone should have expected August Pinoch … sorry, Steinbrenner to shop like Paris Hilton to get everyone he could to gear up for another run. And there’s reason to believe that the primary motivation for this deal was making sure that the Red Sox didn’t close it at the last minute and really distance themselves from the Yankees.
Once again, I’m not freaking out. The Sox added the best available pitcher, Curt Schilling, who unlike A-Rod actually has won a World Series, and the best available reliever on the market in Keith Foulke. They also improved defensively at second base with Pokey Reese, re-signed all of their major free-agents, and, praise the lord, got a more capable manager than part time space-cadet Grady Little.
Besides, who in their right mind thinks this new set-up at third base is going to go smoothly for the Yanks? They have their primary ego, Derek Jeter, at their new ego, A-Rod’s, main position. You think a defensively superior player who is the reigning MVP is going to take Jeter’s ledger of errors lightly? And what about the crazy bin that doubles as the Yankees locker room. Between the two shortstops, Jeremy Giambi, Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, and Kenny Lofton they have more head cases than Latin America has illegitimate dictators.
So, I’m really not that worried. There’s a long season ahead, and I have faith that good will prevail in the end. And as Schilling, the new savior of Beantown, put it, this will just make the journey that much more meaningful, and the victory that much sweeter in the end. No matter what, you can bet all 19 of the games between the two will be worth their ticket price.
