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August 22, 2004
-- Sports opinion --
Nomar trade another dumb move by Red Sox?
By Justin Skaradosky
Trading Nomar Garciaparra
for a couple of players the baseball world's never heard of makes as much sense
as driving a car without wheels.
The Boston Red Sox curse has
lasted long enough, so why try to egg it on?
Not even the biggest bottle
of Pepto Bismol in the world would help the Red Sox nation digest this rotten
trade.
So why did it happen?
The trade of the 31 year-old
shortstop was pending over the course of the last five months, since the
collapse of the Alex Rodriguez deal with the Texas Rangers.
Over the course of these
months, rumors arose involving Nomar's future team – including talk that he
would be traded to the Baltimore Orioles for the 2004 Home Run Derby Champion,
shortstop Miguel Tejada.
Without a doubt this rumor
was nothing but fake, for the Red Sox had no chance of acquiring Tejada.
Another rumor had Nomar
going to the Chicago White Sox for Magglio Ordonez, the White Sox center
fielder. Having second thoughts on this deal, Theo Epstein, the Red Sox general
manager,
backed out of this trade at the last minute.
So what really urged Epstein
to make an absurd trade with Nomar after turning down a, sorry but I have to
admit it, great deal with the White Sox?
The Red Sox probably had a
different thought in their mind.
They may have not traded
Nomar to get so-called better defensive shortstop, but to get rid of him
altogether.
Ever since the fall of the
Alex Rodriguez trade with
Even though this is an
important factor siding with Epstein and the Red Sox on the Nomar debate, most
people, including me, wouldn't have done it.
This trade was portrayed as
a huge success for the team. Not only did the Red Sox receive Jose Cabrera to
replace Nomar as a shortstop, but they also got a first baseman, a rookie named
Doug Mientkiewicz.
The reason for this freebie?
During Mientkiewicz's two seasons as a professional baseball player, he has not
been able to maintain his health.
Mientkiewicz proved he meant
little to the Chicago Cubs or the Minnesota Twins, his rookie team. And
Mientkiewicz was an impending free agent who could have been easily acquired the
minute he became teamless.
If the Cubs and the Twins
didn't think Mientkiewicz was worth spending the money on why would the Red Sox
want him? It is clear that this trade is bad both ways for the Red Sox.
Why would the Red Sox even
need another first baseman with David Ortiz on the roster?
There's no way Cabrera was
worth more than Nomar so why was it necessary to trade the Red Sox great?
Why would Epstein downgrade
the Red Sox's level of play by trading a two-time batting champion for a
washed-up shortstop with a weak career batting average of.167 and a useless
rookie first baseman?
Epstein’s strategy and
plan for the Red Sox is unclear to fans.
Nomar may not be the same
hitter he was three years ago, but why trade perhaps the greatest shortstop in
the Red Sox franchise history?
It’s hard to see how this
trade will prove a success for the Red Sox.
So will the curse of the
Sox, a team that hasn’t won a World Series since it traded Babe Ruth after the
1918 World Series, live on?
Only time will tell.
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© 2004 by The Tattoo. All rights reserved. |
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