This Boston Red Sox Ownership Would Have Traded Babe Ruth
The Boston Red Sox have had a wildly disappointing offseason, extending a streak of questionable decisions from the front office going back a few years. Longtime shortstop and franchise cornerstone Xander Bogaerts is now in San Diego after signing an 11-year, $280 million deal in free agency. Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Kyle Schwarber are other valuable pieces who went out the door in recent years. Rafael Devers might be the next to go. What is happening?
It should be obvious to any rational observer that Fenway Sports Group’s focus has shifted. The Red Sox front office went from spending like their life depended on it to suddenly being unwilling to pay anyone, even Betts, potentially the most talented homegrown player in franchise history. Ownership continues to harp on financial flexibility as the reason for their frugality, but those words ring hollow when that flexibility becomes their end goal rather than actually doing anything with it. Meanwhile, teams like the Mets and Padres spend all the more.
The Small-Market Red Sox
Former Red Sox executive Dave Dombrowski, now with the Philadelphia Phillies, has a reputation for being a big spender. He’ll gut the farm system and overpay a few players, but fans could at least have confidence the team would be competitive at the end of the day. Bringing in Chaim Bloom, an exec who made his name doing more with less in Tampa Bay, was no accident. That was the sign of a major philosophical shift. If you’re looking for the big market Red Sox flexing their financial muscle on the rest of MLB, you won’t find them here. Nope, these guys suddenly care about the big bad luxury tax.
There’s an argument to be made that Fenway Sports Group is no longer in the baseball business. They are in the moneymaking business. John Henry and Tom Werner want a vast portfolio, not necessarily more World Series trophies. FSG’s purchases of Liverpool Football Club and the Pittsburgh Penguins are evidence of that fact. The Red Sox have become the cash cow generating the necessary capital to fund such acquisitions. They’re currently looking to branch out into the NBA or NFL. The Fenway Sports Group moniker will always be a callback to their roots, but it’s becoming less and less indicative of what the ownership group actually care about.
Echoes of Harry Frazee
Owners using the Red Sox as an ATM to fund other ventures at the expense of putting a winning team in Fenway Park? For Boston fans familiar with their history, this isn’t anything new. We’re coming up on the 103rd anniversary of Red Sox owner Harry Frazee offloading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $100,000. Frazee was a well-known theater mogul who built his wealth by producing a number of successful Broadway shows.
The notion that Frazee’s sale of Ruth was motivated by the need to finance one of his Broadway shows is dubious at best and completely untrue at worst. Historicity aside, it’s the themes that stand out. A Red Sox owner was more concerned with other aspects of his portfolio and let stars walk out the door as a result.
It’s quite remarkable that the judgment on Frazee’s motivations has persisted through history despite being untrue. What was untrue then is true now. The current Red Sox ownership has unwittingly become the fulfillment of the Frazee archetype.
I’m confident if you throw Fenway Sports Group in a time machine and send them back to 1920, they are also selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Everything they’ve done in the last couple seasons suggests that. The Curse of the Bambino did not end until the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series – an 86-year drought. Are we in for another curse?
***
SUBSCRIBE to the Vendetta YouTube Channel!
SHOP for Vendetta Merch!
SUPPORT Vendetta on Patreon!
