December 10, 2004
Throw it at the Wall
By Brian Walton
Birdhouse contributing writer Joe Mammy gave me a clear opening the other day to slam ESPN’s Peter Gammons and I passed. Maybe a bad decision, as I can’t let the opportunity pass twice.
In his first report from the winter meetings, Gammons provided an update on Edgar Renteria, telling the world that Walt Jocketty has upped his offer to $36 million for four years. This was apparently in response to the Detroit Tigers having made that proposal first. Better yet, Boston supposedly also matched the earlier four years for $32 million bid.
Fair enough? Well, not so fast. In the very next sentence, neither missing a beat, nor explaining the obvious contradiction, Gammons throws more on the wall. He points out that catcher Jason Varitek’s $9 million per year means the Red Sox will go for a cost cutting shortstop, such as Pokey Reese or Craig Counsell. Julio Lugo and Kaz Matsui were named, but only if the team is willing to raise its budget to $140 million.
I guess if you throw enough names out there, you’ll eventually be right. By my count, Gammons linked five other shortstops to the Red Sox in two paragraphs, barely mentioning their own incumbent, Orlando Cabrera.
But, let’s return to the most important point. If this is true, Renteria’s price is getting too rich. It’s got to be getting to the point where Jocketty will need to move to Plan B if he is going to be used just to leverage Edgar’s price up and up.
