For the Business of the Game

In 1907, Boston owner John I. Taylor traded Hall-of-Fame 3B Jimmy Collins, the supposed cornerstone of the Sox's first championship team. In return from Philadelphia, the Sox received a rookie pitcher.

Two years later, in 1909, Taylor traded, arguably, the greatest pitcher in baseball history, Cy Young, to Cleveland. The Hall-of-Fame Young was coming off of a 20 game win season and had posted a career low 1.26 ERA. In return, the Sox got cash, and two less-than-memorable prospects.

On the eve of Opening Day in 1916, Sox owner Joseph Lannin traded the most complete player in Sox history, in Hall-of-Fame center fielder Tris Speaker. Sox nation was devastated as Speaker was shipped to Cleveland. In return, the Sox got cash and two prospects.

On December 26, 1919, the Sox made the most infamous trade in baseball history as owner Harry Frazee shipped the greatest player in baseball history, Babe Ruth, to the New York Yankees. In return, Frazee and the Sox got loads of cash and notes.

In all cities across the country, shocking baseball moves have been made since the turn of the century, and will continue to be made. The cycle of lost heroes continued in Boston when Dan Duquette walked through the door and took over as the Sox G.M.

Fast forward to the early nineties and just as the Sox organization had shipped away some of the most central figures to the early historical success of the ball club, with the entrance of Duquette as G.M., the bleeding of some of the club's most prominent historical figures continued. This time however, the club's returns weren't as gratifying as cash or sloppy prospects-turned-busts the club had received in the past.

In a season in which perennial batting champion Wade Boggs was hitting .302, his lowest since entering the league, he was considered washed up by many in the club. After some controversy regarding extramarital affairs and other off-season activity, the Sox and Boggs began to see things differently and after a decade of service, Duquette allowed Boggs to walk as a free agent in 1992. Due to free agency, the Sox got nobody in return. They called up Scott Cooper, a promising 3B who was an eventual all-star, but his success was short lived as he flamed out and left the team after a short stint. To this day, the hole Boggs has left at 3B is still one of the largest voids the team has had to consistently deal with. Shortstop-turned-3B John Valentin seemed like he would be the rock at 3rd, but injuries to his knees has seriously deteriorated the length and efficiency of his career.

After dismal starts and periods of roller coaster inconsistency, Roger Clemens was becoming a thorn in Duquette's side. Clemens, the eventual 1st ever 5-time Cy Young award winner, and MVP winner was the main reason the Sox were able to remain competitive in the league for almost a decade. However, Duquette publicly questioned the Rocket's ability and suggested that the soon-to-be Hall-of-Fame pitcher was well past his prime. Thus, they washed their hands of the bloody mess their war had caused and Clemens, stoking after the accusations by Duquette, turned out two more Cy Young awards with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rocket proved he hardly had been washed up and his anger towards Duquette fueled his engine those seasons. In a return game to Boston after a triumphant performance, Clemens walked off the mound, glaring up at the management's box. He was still heated and let them know about it.

While Boggs and Clemens were here before Dan Duquette arrived on the scene, so was Mo Vaughn. Vaughn was in the Sox organization before the Duke took helm of the ship and eventually Mo blossomed into a fruitful star, continuously batting in the mid .300’s while socking 30+ HR. But perhaps more importantly than the statistics, Mo was the leader of the clubhouse. He took charge and was the voice of the players. Perhaps that is where it all went wrong with the Duke. Mo could be pretty emotional and would speak out in the media, talking before really thinking what message he was relaying to the public. Sometimes it was talk of praise and other times it was a package of gripes. The Duke didn’t seem to care for the gripes and eventually, as was the case with Roger, tired of Vaughn. Unlike the miraculous Pedro or the hard-nosed, Everett, Mo wasn’t one of HIS guys he had selected and Mo didn’t seem to fit the Duquette code-of-conduct. There was absolutely nothing sweet about Mo and Dan’s parting, it just made for pure sorrow for fans all across Massachusetts.

In sunny Florida, a retired Wade Boggs is sitting at home with his family, preparing to watch a little post-season baseball. As he grabs the remote and begins surfing, the sun that comes in from the window shimmers upon his thick, championship ring he won with the Yankees a few years back. On his wall in the living room, a framed photograph shows Boggs circling the bases in his Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniform. In the background, the scoreboard at Tropicana Field says, "Wade Boggs has just gotten his 3,000th career hit." Since his retirement, Boggs has worked as a special assistant to the General Manager for Devil Rays organization and had his number 12 retired, the first number ever retired by the expansion ball club.

In a posh hotel room in Oakland, California, Roger Clemens is watching some T.V. and just relaxing, before he takes the mound for the defending world champion, New York Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series. On his dresser, the morning sun that peaks through the curtains sparkles upon his gold 1999 championship ring, illuminating a section of the room.

Elsewhere in California, Mo Vaughn is packing his bats and boarding a plane back to his home in Massachusetts. The Angels' season was well over before the end of the year, having been caught in the raging Seattle-Oakland crossfire and finishing 9.5 games out in the West and fading out of the wild card hunt. Vaughn's trip to Massachusetts will be short-lived, as he will return to California in a few months to meet with the Angels brass to discuss the direction the team is headed, and to possibly discuss his part of the club's plans. It is no secret that in New York, Tino Martinez's situation is very unsettled and that this could possibly be his last year with the Yankees. It is also no secret that Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner covets Mo and has dropped a few inquires regarding his possible availability.

Many, many Red Sox fans are indifferent about the Sox letting go of Wade Boggs. However, he was the Boston Red Sox for almost a decade and was one of the most potent hitters in all of baseball, winning 5 batting titles and helping the Red Sox remain competitive for so many years. For a while there, Boggs was a cornerstone at 3rd base and the perennial starter at 3rd in the All-Star game. Some are indifferent about his leaving, but the fact that his number has been retired by the Tampa Bay Devil Ray organization after a mere two years in which he batted .301 in 1998, and then .280 in 1999 seems a little disheartening. I can hear Arnold Drummond now.

"What 'choo talking about Willis?"

Boggs is now working for the Devil Rays organization and some reports have come out suggesting that Boggs will go into the storied Hall-of-Fame as the first member from the expansion Devil Ray ball club.

Am I the only one who is having difficulty with this notion?

Sure he went to the hated Yankee organization but the management in Boston surely wasn't giving the aging players any assurances as to a possible playoff run. When the organization balks, the players walk.

In this case, Duquette came in and allowed Boggs to take a hike, instead settling on the up-and-coming Scott Cooper. For a couple of years this looked to be a great move as Cooper snuck into the All-Star game as a reserve at 3rd. However, this great find didn't last too long and Cooper disappeared faster than appliances during the L.A. riots.

As for "The Rocket", he was the epitome of finesse, power, and emotion, pitching brilliantly in winning three Cy Young awards with the Bo Sox and wrapping up the 1986 A.L. MVP award in which he went 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA and accumulated 238 K's. Recently, Roger Clemens was voted to the All-Century team as a pitcher and I got the chills watching him with a Yankees cap on his forehead.

Where did it all go wrong?

Doesn't it just seem like some players belong in one uniform their entire career?

When Roger began to show a few signs of fatigue and produced mediocre results in 1995 and 1996, going 10-5 then 10-13, and with the arrival of Duquette, there seemed to be a clash of opinions. Eventually, Clemens’ attitude wore on the Duke and after someone suggested Clemens wanted to receive the highest salary in baseball, it was all too certain that Clemens would be taking a walk down the yellow brick road.

Years later, the Duke was able to finally get some respect back for his pitching rotation as he made his finest deal since coming to Boston in trading away two fine pitching prospects in Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. to Montreal for one of the greatest pitchers of all time in Pedro Martinez.

Yet even with the Martinez deal, it wasn't all peaches and cream with the organization and the star, veteran players. All-Star 1B and MVP Mo Vaughn's contract was coming to an end and the organization seemed to be a little tired of his boastful, outspoken remarks against the club and some of its moves. Vaughn was an angel in the community and the sole leader in the Sox clubhouse.

Yet, there was that infamous Foxy Lady incident in which Vaughn flipped his automobile over on the highway after a late night jaunt down to Providence to scope out some of the ladies finest in exotic dancing. Vaughn could have easily died and it was suggested that he was intoxicated and that was the reason for his crash, not Mother Nature's elements as first suggested. Either way, the rift was growing larger and larger and there was no love between the Hit Dog and the Duke.

Suddenly, verbal barbs were catapulted from both sides and heinous accusations were slung faster than mud at a Woodstock concert. It was said that the Sox wanted Vaughn to deal with his supposed "alcohol" problems, and that they wanted to instill a weight clause in his contract as he was supposedly ballooning faster than “Nutty Professor,” Sherman Klump. Vaughn charged that the Duke was hiring private investigators to keep tabs on him, a practice used by Harry Frazee years ago with Babe Ruth's late night excursions into Boston's red-light district. Among it all, the Sox nation was stung by the imminent loss of yet another star player to free agency and people wanted a trade to ensure that Vaughn would not walk for free.

But even after a flaccid, last minute attempt to offer Vaughn a deal in the off-season, it was too little too late. Vaughn was gone.

Yet another star player walked in the off-season and in return, the Sox got nothing more than another mass of heartbroken fans. This time though, the little girl who was mourning when Harry Frazee shipped Ruth to New York, watched her great-granddaughter pout over the loss of "The Hit Dog," Vaughn.

While the Sox finally got a dominating pitcher to replace Clemens in Martinez, no one has been able to replace Vaughn's potent bat or leadership ability in the lineup. Nomar had to pick up the slack and the other role-players stepped it up a notch, but that was just for a season as the rest of the role players slumped tremendously and Nomar can only do so much. It wasn't until the Duke signed Carl Everett in the off-season that another potent bat landed in the Sox lineup. However, Everett's tirades and shenanigans wore on the club, and even though Vaughn was very outspoken, his fellow peers always held him in the highest degree. The end of this past year, the Sox players showed how much they respect their teammate, Everett.

Carl held a party in Tampa for his teammates and the only things that showed up were bushels of tumbleweed and the guy who used to play Eddie Munster.

While the Sox are still searching for Vaughn's successor in the field and in the clubhouse, Pedro is skyrocketing into the all-time best pitching herd. Pedro is by far the Duke's finest move. Also, the drafting of Georgia Tech SS, Nomar Garciaparra, certainly is a photo finish second. But these are hardly the only bright moves the Sox have made with Duquette at the helm.

When he was a free agent out of Kansas City, starter Tom Gordon supposedly had one of the nastiest curveballs in the game, but his results had yet to do that rumor any justice. His last season in KC he went 12-12 with a 4.43 ERA and had struck out 119 while walking 89. Certainly, his acquisition wasn't met with much press.

Then the Sox organization got the idea to try Gordon as a closer.

Enter 1998 and Gordon established himself as one of the most dominant closers in all of baseball. Gordon saved 46 games and had an ERA of 2.72. in the 1998-99 seasons, Gordon set a major league record for consecutive saves with 54. He had one of the greatest seasons a closer has ever had in Red Sox history and was rewarded as an All-Star half way through the season and won the Rolaids Relief Man award at the end of the season.

However…

With Gordon not having pitched the entire 2000 season and with his contract up, Dan clearly let Gordon know where he stood with the club in the future.

He called him up and told him to remove all of his belongings from the clubhouse in a timely manner and move on up to the East side.

Duquette also was responsible for one of the best robberies in recent baseball memory when he traded target practice pitcher Heathcliff Slocumb for Seattle prospects, C Jason Varitek, and P Derek Lowe. While Slocumb has become a much-maligned journeyman throughout the league, Varitek at one point last season was considered the best catcher in the AL behind Ivan Rodriguez. This season, Varitek slumped offensively but caught more innings behind the plate than almost anyone in baseball. Meanwhile across the way on the pitching mound, Derek Lowe went from a dominating setup man to one of the best closers in the league as he racked up 42 saves this season, an All-Star berth, and lost the Rolaids Relief Award this year in a tiebreaker to Detroit’s Todd Jones.

As with every single G.M. in the league, there are hits (Hipolito Pichardo) and misses (Andy Sheets), and moves made that raise one brow too many (trading Ed Sprague for two prospects, only to waive him a few weeks later). Along with the Clemens and Vaughn departures, the Duke has done quite a few things that have made just a few players and fans squirm in their seats.

When all the bashing was going on between the Clemens, and Vaughn ordeals, the Sox knew Canseco was unhappy with the direction the club was headed regarding his friends and he sought greener pastures. Alas, the Sox traded away Jose Canseco back to Oakland for John “Way Back” Wasdin. While Canseco's seasons were always riddled with streaks, he would eventually hit a few moonshots. And while we're on the subject of moonshots, John Wasdin for a while there seemed to be going for the all-time record in first pitches thrown in a game, blasted for home runs. After giving the fans a fun slogan to throw out for a little while…

"Way Back!"

…he was simply discarded to Colorado, a struggling pitcher’s worst nightmare.

And speaking of the Wasdin deportation, in that very deal the Sox also shipped Duquette naysayer, Jeff Frye along with him. (It appears as though Frye, one of the veteran voices in the clubhouse, was frustrated with the Sox's mishandling of Mike Stanley and the prompt release of such a team leader. Speaking out against Duquette we've learned is a very big No-No.) This Colorado trade was a very questionable deal as even though the Sox were fortunate to obtain former All-Star pitcher, Rolando Arrojo in the deal, the deal was essentially make-or-break, pending the Sox's willingness to take on the pesky Mike Lansing. Unfortunately, Lansing carries a vulgar salary somewhere in the vicinity of $7.5 million and the Sox are handcuffed by this spare tire's salary for the 2001 season. Instead of getting quality hitters to help bolster their anemic offense, they are stuck with a pretty, crafty bench player.

Hey, at least I hear Lansing plays a pretty mean rock-paper-scissors…

And while we're on the subject of questionable calls, someone please tell me why the Sox signed Massachusetts native Rico Brogna to a contract? He was left on the bench so many times, he got his own reserved, valet sitting space. Want to know something interesting too? If the Sox needed help with hitting, Brogna surely would have helped them in that department. They gave him one shot to hit and he buried a walk-off grand slam to beat the Devil Rays earlier in the year at Fenway. But do you want some further proof?

Brogna in '98: BA-265 HR-20 RBI-104 H-150 Brogna in '99: BA-278 HR-24 RBI-102 H-172

All this guy did was hit 20+ dongs and drive in 100 or more runs in the last two seasons. But all he did was watch the Gilkeys, the Sheets’, and the Lansings bat before him. The Duke comes out and says that they aren't holding Brogna out so he won't trigger an incentive clause they just think he has "slow bat speed."

I wouldn't know. Last time I saw, Brogna was hitting a game winning grand slam into the bullpen.

Don't get me wrong, the Duke has had his share of great moves, and absolute disasters, probably the same amount as everyone else around the league. However, he is regarded by many as a very shrewd businessman and is accused of stepping on many toes to build a winning ball club. While the Duke knows his baseball, it appears as though he may have to brush up on his people skills a little bit. This factor was proven when he so callously backed Everett after his star CF went off on the manager and a teammate and broke club rules. It was a cowardly act and one that just showed how careless Dan can act in the public setting. Not even his PR guy could save him from that mishap.

There have been more harsh personnel moves the Duke has made this season from stringing along Stanley before his release, the bickering with Valentin over knee surgery and salary, not allowing the hurt veteran leader, Saberhagen, to travel with the team, and the Everett-Williams fiasco. While all of these have been pretty demeaning moves, nothing was worse or more harmful to his public persona than to backing of HIS star hitter after many public tirades. Some players on the team quietly say that it is incidents like this that scare off some players from wanting to join the Red Sox organization. The free agents are probably afraid they are going to be met in Beantown with a big ol' pie in the face.

Just ask David Justice and Marquis Grissom about the care and compassion players around the league see from the Red Sox club. Both of those players had no-trade clauses to Boston, implemented in their contracts.

Baseball used to be a game where players could play their entire careers without too much shuffling of their feet and played for the simple love of the game. However, times have changed and the game isn’t so much a game now as it is a job or a business. Now, money talks more than ever and instead of players playing hurt and for the love of the game, they are coddled and blinded by the possibility of padding stats and meeting incentive clauses. But players aren’t the only ones who are scurrying about…

The G.M.’s who control the game are most interested in filling seats and fielding competitive teams to raise more capital for their club’s value. Duquette, the Boston G.M. for one, showed this past season that he wasn’t so much as concerned with the clubhouse dynamic, as he was what the players did on the field. Hell, he even came out and said so much when shrugging off Everett’s antics like a disinterested teen. However, that was one business move that stung, not only the team’s performance but also the club’s image.

This past season, more so than ever, Dan Duquette has really shown the public just how frigid a business this “game” of baseball has become.