Massarotti: Red Sox Losing Out On Talent Because They're Losers
BOSTON (CBS) - In the end, perhaps, here is what it came down to: Cole Hamels didn't want to come to Boston. And, somewhat incredibly, the Red Sox couldn't even pay him to change his mind.
This is the damage the losing has done.
In case you missed it, Hamels was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Texas Rangers earlier this week for a package of six players, including left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison. The Rangers also sent five prospects in the deal, including catcher Jorge Alfaro, outfielder Nick Williams and pitchers Alec Asher, Jake Thompson and Jerad Eickhoff. Unless you're the kind of person who sits at home and watches minor league baseball every night, you have little firsthand knowledge of those players.
So here's what we did: with the help of 98.5 The Sports Hub producer Jimmy Stewart, we reached out to Ben Badler at Baseball America, a publication that is a virtual bible of amateur baseball. Badler couldn't really give us a true comparable to Alfaro – no small detail there – but he suggested the remaining prospects were comparable to a group that might have included outfielder Manuel Margot as well as pitchers Henry Owens, Matt Barnes and Edwin Escobar.
As for Harrison, he has roughly the same profile – and this is us talking now, not Baseball America – as Sox starter Wade Miley. Both are left-handed. Both are roughly the same age. Both have contracts for the next two years at least. Both have comparable career totals.
To balance off Alfaro, maybe the Sox would have had to send someone like Blake Swihart in the deal, though that seems excessive. Maybe it would have been Christian Vazquez. Maybe it would have been someone like Single-A catcher Austin Rei.
But here's the problem: depending on whom you believe, discussions never got that far. And according to Red Sox beat reporter Sean McAdam of Comcast Sports Net, discussions stopped because Hamels was unwilling to waive his no-trade protection to Boston.
Let's say that again: Cole Hamels didn't want to come here.
Such a detail, of course, is damning enough to the Red Sox these days, but this gets worse: according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, Hamels last year regarded the Red Sox as one of the nine teams to which he would accept a trade.
Got that?
Before each offseason, Hamels presented the Phillies with a list of 20 teams to which he would not accept a deal. Prior to the 2014 offseason, with the Red Sox coming off a World Series win, Boston was not on that list of blocked teams. By the start of last offseason, they were.
Know what changed?
The Red Sox had another last-place season.
They went from first to worst, from winners to losers again.
As a Red Sox follower, if that doesn't concern you, it should.
Certainly, the Sox might have been able to convince Hamels to come to Boston by guaranteeing the option year on his contract for the 2019 season. But even so, that means the cost for them would have been greater than for a team like the Rangers, who were on the list of teams to which Hamels could be dealt. So Philadelphia worked freely with Texas, and the Rangers – also a team without a true ace at the moment – now have Hamels. And the Red Sox don't.
If that doesn't burn your buns, it should. And here's why:
Not so long ago, Boston was not merely a desirable place to play. It was even preferred. In 2007, however the deal turned out, Eric Gagne was willing to come to Boston as a setup man to facilitate a trade here. Years ago, Kevin Millar backed out of an agreement in Japan because the Red Sox came calling. Boston had clout, and not just because the Red Sox had money. The Red Sox had clout because players believed they could win here.
Now?
We just can't be so sure. Or maybe we can. Instead of being in the market for someone like Hamels, the Sox have to pay out the nose – on a short-term deal or a long-term one - for someone like Hanley Ramirez, who has never really won anything, anywhere, for obvious reasons. (He doesn't care enough.) Meanwhile, someone like Hamels is taking the Red Sox off his list of potential destinations because the Red Sox simply don't win enough anymore, which means the Red Sox have alienated themselves from the biggest possible pool of available talent.
In a place like Boston, after all, the Red Sox should have access to everyone. They should be able to draft and develop. They should be able to sign international free agents like Yoan Moncada. They should be able to sign high-priced free agents and acquire elite talent by trade, all because they have the potential resources to make any acquisition, at any cost, at any time.
The problem now?
A guy like Hamels has far better options.
Which is a nice way of saying that the Red Sox have taken their once-sterling reputation in the game and smeared it badly during a four-year stretch in which they appear head for a third last-place finish, during a five-year span in which they will have concluded the season in a dreadful manner four times.
In the end, Cole Hamels didn't want to come here because he thinks you're a loser.
And you can't say you blame him.
Tony Massarotti co-hosts the Felger and Massarotti Show on 98.5 The Sports Hub weekdays from 2-6 p.m. Follow him on Twitter @TonyMassarotti. You can read more from Tony by clicking here.