From The Boston Globe:
I think in general that’s how I look at free agent negotiations — true open-market negotiations — with players the Yankees will be interested in, I think they’re going to get that player, because they just have a bigger margin for error than we do. I’m not complaining — we have tremendous resources and so many teams look up at us and wish they could be in our financial position — but in respect to the Yankees, history has borne out that they’re going to get the player if they want him on the true open market, and that’s fine.
This is the most honest assessment of the Yankees-Red Sox dynamic that I have ever heard come out of Boston. Theo Epstein is conceding that they are also a financial power, while pointing out that the Yankees have more resources and can better deal with the burdens of a long contract gone bad. Ultimately, it means that when the two teams compete for a player of equal need to both sides, the Yankees will typically emerge victorious. Hopefully some of that winning carries over onto the field.
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6 Responses to Theo: Yankees Get Who They Want
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TIQ IQ
Not true, but a nice try by Epstein.
Case and point, the Teixeira sweeps. If the Red Sox had ponied up another $8-10 million and not tried to play toughguy with Tex, he’d be in Boston next year. This was not a matter of the Yankees having “a bigger margin for error,” this was a matter of Boy Genius and company incorrectly gauging the market and mistakenly believing they could steer negotiations because of an upper hand on Tex. The Yankees swooped in and proved them to be wrong in that capacity and therefore ended up with the prize. This was an example of the Red Sox organization getting outmaneuvered, not outspent.
Maybe, but I think that his general point is fair in that the Yankees can always afford to go the extra dollar, whereas Boston does have a limit.
Possibly. I’d just like to know when – over the last decade – the Red Sox didn’t acquire a player because they couldn’t afford him.
Well, that is something we will never know, as we cant know why they didnt pursue certain players further.
I agree with Anthony. This is just more spinning on the part of the Red Sox. So far, that makes 3 different versions of what happened in the Tex dealings: Henry’s, Gammons’ and, now, Theo’s. And those “financial limitations” didn’t stop them in out-bidding the universe for Dice-K. Unless Theo seriously thought the Yankees (or anyone) would bid even close to $50 million.
I agree with your overall point that they have plenty of money to spend, but Theo never said they didnt. In fact, he acknowledged that. All he said was that when it comes down to the Yankees and the Sox for a player, the Yankees are probably going to get him if they want him enough.