Patriots vs Red Sox: A Contrast

[SoxSport]

I don't know which is the better organization at this point. With the capped NFL and the uncapped MLB, it's like comparing apples and oranges.But there is quite a contrast, it appears, with the way Belichick & Co does business vs the Red Sox organization.

 

With Belichick, if a player is not performing up to snuff, or shows signs of age decline, he is gone. No sentimentality there. To stay around as a veteran, you have to perform.

 

The Red Sox seem to take a lot softer attitude towards their underproducing or ageing veteran players. They keep 'em, it seems, for as long as possible. but they also hold onto their best minor league prospects, even though there is no room on the major league roster for them. That can't be too pleasant for some of those ambitious minor leaguers who want to get to the Show and make some big bucks.

 

Now granted, guaranteed contracts make things a whole lot different in MLB--you really can't get rid of a guy like Lackey, for example, whom you are grossly overpaying. Maybe he should have been fingerprinted to make sure it's the same guy that played in LA.

 

I don't know if it's the difference in the sports or the difference in the managements.I do know the Patriots operate differently from the Red Sox. They are quicker to get rid of players. Does it make a difference? Maybe not. Belichick hasn't been setting the world on fire the last few years, either, trying to run the Patriots by himself.

[Dojji]

The Bruins won their championship with a far more restrictive cap, and did so in a way that sets themselves up to contend for multiple seasons of the future. Julien's system is one of the best in the league in terms of the results it gets (top 5 in goals for, bottom 5 goals against) with the talent he has (the Bruins are kinda underrated, but if you were to pick the top 5 most talented teams in the NHL, not too many would pick the Bruins).

 

In short, that was a team that won the Cup on its system, and the job done by its coach and general manager to get the best out of their players (which obviously includes a multiple-record-setting goaltender, but we don't take points off Belichick for Brady either) so I'm not shy about putting the Bruins right up there with the two big championship squads, considering that of the three teams the Bruins would have by far the most difficulty spending their way there.

 

And when you consider how little Tyler Seguin contributed to that championship run (basically just the one good game against TBL) you have the seeds of something truly impressive over the next couple years of Boston hockey. They have continuity lined up for a decade at their key positions between Hamilton for Chara, Seguin for Krejci, and Rask for TT. (thank you, Leafs!)

[Palodios]

Comparing Bill's system of cutting players is very different than the Red Sox's system, because baseball players are far more prone to ups and down, and because cutting a player doesn't stop the payments to that player.

[TedWilliams101]

Comparing Bill's system of cutting players is very different than the Red Sox's system' date=' because baseball players are far more prone to ups and down, and because cutting a player doesn't stop the payments to that player.[/quote']

 

If Belichick were the manager of the team, I'd bet Wake would have been gone years ago, we wouldn't have overpaid for JD, Lackey, and Crawford, we wouldn't be giving $5 million to old wrecks like Smoltz, hoping for it to work out. I also doubt we would have spent $100 million on Dice-K.

 

I don't understand why a sport with an average players career at roughly 5 years doesn't have guaranteed money where as the sport where guys can play 20+ years can never see the field on a 10 year contract and still get the money. It should be the other way round. I'm sick of having to keep paying Lackey, Dice-K, Drew, etc. The Sox should have the ability to can their ass and not have to pay out the rest. It would be like me showing up to work and giving them absolutely nothing, yet expecting them to keep paying me year after year. It's insane.

[SoxSport]

If Belichick were the manager of the team, I'd bet Wake would have been gone years ago, we wouldn't have overpaid for JD, Lackey, and Crawford, we wouldn't be giving $5 million to old wrecks like Smoltz, hoping for it to work out. I also doubt we would have spent $100 million on Dice-K.

 

I don't understand why a sport with an average players career at roughly 5 years doesn't have guaranteed money where as the sport where guys can play 20+ years can never see the field on a 10 year contract and still get the money. It should be the other way round. I'm sick of having to keep paying Lackey, Dice-K, Drew, etc. The Sox should have the ability to can their ass and not have to pay out the rest. It would be like me showing up to work and giving them absolutely nothing, yet expecting them to keep paying me year after year. It's insane.

 

The difference is Marvin Miller--which is why Miller won't make the HOF. The Players went too far in MLB, and have too much power. Of course, you could blame that on the owners, too, for allowing it. The MLB Players union is obstructionist.