"The evil empire extends its tentacles even into Latin America," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said in December 2002 when the Yankees signed Cuban fireballer Jose Contreras.
What a difference 14 years makes, eh?
As things stand, the Red Sox have won three World Series since then, compared to the Yankees' one. Unless the Yankees spend a lot more in free agency -- and they've said they don't plan to -- the Red Sox are set to have a payroll well over $200 million in 2017 while the Yankees will sit just below $180 million. The Red Sox emptied some of their farm to trade for players like Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel, too.
All-time great MLB analyst Peter Gammons noted on The Rich Eisen Show that the Red Sox are exactly what the Yankees used to be, when the Red Sox hated it:
As Gammons aptly notes, the Red Sox approach with the current group seems to be to win as many titles as possible in the next two or three years and then they'll likely to have to start tearing it down and rebuilding a bit on the fly -- like the Yankees started to do last season!
Obviously neither of these teams will ever have the lack of resources to necessitate a rebuild like the Rays or A's might have to undertake, but the relative role reversal is a pretty fun aspect to the rivalry at this point.
