Dodgy Accusations
“I’m rubber and you’re glue: whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you,” said the Red Sox front office in response to the Dodgers’ allegations of tampering in the J.D. Drew signing.
Boston countered with charges that Grady Little and Dave Jauss, both former Red Sox employees, attempted to contact Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox allege that either Little or Jauss and perhaps both contacted a current Red Sox staff member to acquire Ramirez’s home phone number. I’m sure it was because they just wanted to wish the left fielder happy holidays and see how Juliana and the son were doing.
I don’t have a lot of confidence in the Dodgers’ executive decision making. They canned Paul DePodesta after just one season to go with the more conventional Ned Colletti. Whatever DePodesta may have lacked in media savvy he made up for in his statistical abilities (I found this fine and thoughtful analysis of his very brief tenure by Daniel Julien), but newbie owner Frank McCourt had not the patience to persevere with DePodesta.
There’s also the debt service McCourt assumed in acquiring the Dodgers. The real estate developer has to sell 24 acres of land to pay off the $145M loan he shouldered for his new toy.
It’s a nice trinket. But you know what happens when a little kid gets shiny tschokes: the big kids bully you around. The kid will either learn the street rules or call Uncle Bud for help.
