Tampa Bay looks devil in eyes, refuses to blink
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are my new favorite baseball team. They're not very good, or any good, but good in the competitive sense doesn't matter here. We're talking good vs. evil, and the Devil Rays are fighting the good fight.
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| Holding a grudge: The Rays aren't happy with the way the BoSox handled trade talks concerning now-L.A. Dodger Julio Lugo. (Getty Images) |
Tampa Bay made an absolute ass of itself last week by refusing to let Boston complete a trade with Baltimore. The Orioles wanted to send catcher
The Devil Rays submitted a waiver claim on him.
Understand, Tampa Bay didn't want Stern. This was personal, but not because of Stern. This was personal because of the way the Devil Rays perceived Boston had handled trade talks before the July 31 deadline involving Tampa Bay shortstop Julio Lugo. Amid those talks, Boston had spoken with Lugo's agent about the possibility of signing him to a long-term deal and moving him to another position. That would be tampering -- and cheating, frankly, because it tells the Red Sox more than they have the right to know before making a trade.
Ultimately those trade talks fizzled, and Lugo was sent to the Dodgers. Boston moved on. Tampa Bay dwelled. And plotted. And decided that whatever Boston's next trade was going to be, Tampa Bay was going to get in the middle of it.
What happened next was juvenile. It was petty. It was beautiful. Tampa Bay couldn't submit a claim on Lopez because the Orioles might have just let the Devil Rays have him and his stupid $8.5 million salary and superstar attitude and slipping production. So Tampa Bay submitted a claim on Stern instead.
At that point Boston had no choice but to pull Stern off waivers and come to a side agreement with Baltimore that (A) Stern would be sent to the Orioles after the season ends, when players don't have to pass through waivers first; and (B) there would be some sort of additional compensation from Boston to Baltimore should Stern get injured while finishing the season in the Red Sox organization.
At the end of the day Tampa Day didn't accomplish much. Boston got its hired-gun catcher to replace injured Jason Varitek. Baltimore will get Stern soon enough.
This wasn't about altering history. Tampa Bay wasn't going to change the world by claiming Stern, but then, Tampa Bay will never change the world of major league baseball. By location and history it is one of baseball's losers, and Tampa Bay knows it. Submitting a claim on Stern, delaying a deal that was going to happen anyway, was a form of baseball eco-terrorism. Tampa Bay chained itself to a doomed tree and said, "Over my dead body."
The Devil Rays made a stand, one that should ricochet around baseball's cold, unloved corners -- Milwaukee and Minnesota, Kansas City and Cincinnati, places where baseball gives a crap only on days the Yankees or Red Sox come to town.
Boston, like AL East rival New York, is an elitist organization that dominates baseball with a fat wallet, running up victories on credit cards. Everyone else is just hoping not to bounce the check that pays the electric bill in Class A.
Boston's opening day payroll was $120 million. Tampa Bay's payroll was $35 million -- $6 million less than Boston is paying Manny Ramirez,
For all the little guys, Tampa Bay stood up to Boston and said enough. It was Boston, but it could have been the Yankees, and for the sake of this story it might as well have been. Both organizations are everything that is wrong with baseball, buying playoff appearances to satisfy rabid fan bases that don't love baseball for the actual baseball -- but instead love baseball like a schoolyard bully loves some little kid's lunch.
The best story of the season isn't the battle between Boston and New York for a playoff spot. If that turns you on, leave immediately and find a financial website where you can root for Microsoft's stock to beat IBM's.
No, the best story is in a place like Detroit or Minnesota or Cincinnati, where teams are bearing down on the playoffs courtesy of an efficient farm system and good managing and a general manager who makes just the right tweak at just the right time.
And a damn good story is happening at Tampa Bay, where the Devil Rays stood up to the arrogance of Boston. It was a small thing the Red Sox did, but it reeks of entitlement and unaccountability. By speaking with Lugo's agent, rich and bloated Boston was like an 18-wheeler that barrels down the highway and rides the bumper of some Ford Escort. But this time Boston picked the wrong Ford Escort. This time, Tampa Bay didn't get out of the way. By claiming Stern, Tampa Bay slammed on the brakes and forced Boston to slow down before passing on the shoulder.
And as the Red Sox drove past, Tampa Bay spoke for lots of us by sticking a middle finger out the window.
