VeeshanVault

The first of 2 winners from Massachussets this year.

Xyun wrote:

The first of 2 winners from Massachussets this year.

Actually, that would be the 2nd of 3 winners.

Red Sox owner, Steinbrenner trade barbs
Boss says Henry should 'forget the sour grapes' after A-Rod deal

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is calling for a salary cap in the wake of the New York Yankees' trade for Alex Rodriguez.

The Associated Press
Updated: 3:13 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2004

BOSTON - George Steinbrenner wasn’t about to keep quiet when the Red Sox took a shot at his team.

So a few hours after Boston owner John Henry criticized the New York Yankees over their acquisition of Alex Rodriguez and called for a salary cap, Steinbrenner struck back Wednesday.

“We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction,” Steinbrenner said in a statement. “It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes.”

Spring training is just getting under way, and New York and Boston already are at each other’s throats.

Both teams spent the offseason adding stars. The Red Sox nearly got A-Rod, too, but couldn’t work out the financial aspects — the Yankees had no such money problems.

“There is really no other fair way to deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams,” Henry said in an e-mail to reporters.

Responded Steinbrenner: “Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston.”

“It is understandable, but wrong that he would try to deflect the accountability for his mistakes on to others and to a system for which he voted in favor,” Steinbrenner said.

Commissioner Bud Selig got involved and quickly told the teams to stop the sniping.

“I’ve agreed and will abide by that request,” Henry said. “The anticipation about the 2004 season is at an all-time high. So let’s shift our sights to the field. Let the games begin.”

By late in the day, the Yankees had the same sentiment.

“The commissioner asked us not to say anything else on this subject, and of course, we agreed to abide by it,” Yankees spokesman Rick Cerrone said.

Steinbrenner showed up later, however, reading the Top 10 list on the “Late Show with David Letterman” while standing at Legends Field, the Yankees’ spring training home.

And the No. 1 answer on “Good Things About Being a New York Yankee”?

“You think this A-Rod deal is good, huh — we’re about to sign Ty Cobb,” Steinbrenner read.

Before last season, Red Sox president Larry Lucchino called the Yankees the “Evil Empire.” The teams then played an epic series of 26 games, with New York winning the pennant on Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning homer in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

While New York lost to Florida in the World Series, Red Sox fans know the score remains the same. Since 1918, the Yankees have 26 World Series titles to none for Boston.

Curt Schilling, acquired by Boston in November, already is worked up over the intense rivalry.

“I want to be caught up in it,” he said after throwing for about 10 minutes at the team’s spring training ballpark. “The way I’ve got it figured, I’m starting that first game against the Yankees the way the rotation falls. I’ve known about that for two months.”

That would be on April 16, the opener of a four-game series at Fenway Park.

Boston nearly acquired Rodriguez, the AL MVP, in December for outfielder Manny Ramirez. But the deal collapsed, with Boston and Texas about $15 million apart and the Red Sox and Rodriguez separated by about $20 million.

On Monday, Texas dealt A-Rod to the Yankees for second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a minor leaguer to be named. The Rangers will assume $67 million of the $179 million in salary remaining on Rodriguez’s record $252 million, 10-year contract, which has seven seasons left.

The Yankees’ payroll is about $184.8 million. Boston’s payroll is approximately $125.1 million for 27 signed players.

“It will suffice to say that we have a spending limit and the Yankees apparently don’t,” Henry said. “Fifty-seven percent of baseball fans polled this week by ESPN.com characterized this week’s events as ‘disgusting’ and ‘sad.’

“There is a simple mechanism that could right a system woefully out of whack,” he said.

New York, with the highest revenue in baseball, finished first in the AL East for the past six seasons, with Boston coming in second each time. Last year, the Yankees gave the rest of the major leagues about $50 million in revenue sharing and paid $12 million in luxury tax.

Henry said he was “happy” for Rodriguez, who will move to third base because the Yankees have team captain Derek Jeter at shortstop.

“He very much wanted to play in games that have meaning,” Henry said. “We’re not waving a white flag. We’re going to continue to work just as hard to bring home a championship and are fortunate to have fans that are as uncompromising as we are when it comes to demanding excellence.”

The current collective bargaining agreement doesn’t expire until after the 2006 season. If owners attempt to get a salary cap, it likely would trigger baseball’s first work stoppage since 1994-95.

“It will fuel debate and discussion, but nothing could be done until the contract expires,” said former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, a Red Sox director who was member of Selig’s economic study committee.

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Tenuvil wrote:A-Rod was the true reason the curse left the Sox and settled onto the Yankees.

Ogbar wrote:You heard it here first:

ARod is the Anti-Babe - the curse ends at last*



*I may not give two shits about baseball anymore, but this all smells of kharma payoff to me..