Perry: Red Sox Are Baseball’s Best Because I Said So

Dayn Perry of FoxSports.com recently wrote an article on the website proclaiming the Red Sox as the best organization in baseball. This seems like a valid enough position. There is no question that the guys up in Boston have done a great job in building that franchise. Even the most diehard Yankees fan can admit that. The problem comes with his criteria. There is absolutely no discernible way that the Red Sox beat the Yankees in a number of his arguments.

Dedicated ownership

Since a consortium led by John Henry, Tom Werner and the New York Times Company purchased the Red Sox from the Yawkey Trust in 2002, the team has consistently ranked near the top of the league in payroll. This season, they’re second only to the New York Yankees with a payroll of more than $143 million.

Henry and company have shown a terminal willingness to invest in their product. That means locking up veteran performers, being active on the free-agent market and taking on salary at the deadline and also plowing money into the scouting and development budgets. With skinflint owners like Jeffrey Loria and Carl Pohlad too much with us, it’s nice to see a “sporting gentleman” type like Henry who sees the value of putting a good product on the field.

All of this is true. Henry and company are much better than greedy misers like Loria and Pohlad. He does a great job investing in his product, and the fans have to appreciate that. The problems start with Perry’s payroll argument. Everybody knows that the Yankees have the game’s highest payroll. If that is a reflection of having an owner who spends, the Yanks do not lose in this category. The Red Sox may lock up some veteran performers, but they also refused to spend the money to keep the heart and soul of their team, Johnny Damon, from going to their hated rivals. The difference in salaries was reportedly $3 million annually. That is a drop in the bucket for a team with Boston’s money. Sox ownership also claimed poverty in refusing to pick up Bobby Abreu from the Phillies even though they showed in the offseason that the money was there. That shoots a hole in the taking on salary at the deadline better than the Yankees argument.

A gifted and varied front office

Boston’s many-tentacled front office is of course led by wunderkind Theo Epstein. Despite his youth, Epstein has proved himself to be a gifted operator, but he owes much to his impressive support staff. You’ve got seasoned baseball men like Allard Baird and Craig Shipley, new-school types like Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer and, of course, the wisdom of Bill James. It’s up to Epstein to build a consensus and evaluate all those inputs. Needless to say, he does that exceptionally well.

Brian Cashman won three World Series rings with smaller payrolls than Epstein was working with when he won his one. Look at the way his moves rebuilt the 2000 World Champions on the fly. Look at the scrap heap pickups he made in 2005 that propelled the Yanks to the postseason. Look at the way he has taken one of the game’s worst farm systems and turned it into one of the best in the two years he has gained full autonomy. Look at how his relentless calls to the Rangers convinced Texas to trade Alex Rodriguez to New York. Cashman certainly has had help, primarily from Damon Oppenheimer, a man whose firing I called for back in 2005. Oppenheimer was responsible for the drafting of Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain last year. Gene Michael is one of the most innovative minds in baseball. He had the Yankees focusing on on base percentage a decade before Moneyball popularized the statistic. Mark Newman is a highly-respected baseball man. The Yankees own a formidable front office.

Rebuilding while contending

Here’s perhaps what’s most impressive. Remaining in contention while improving the farm system is one of the most challenging things for an organization — most often, teams focus on one to the neglect of the other. Under Epstein, however, the Sox have pulled it off, and this season provides the perfect example. As mentioned, the Red Sox are the best team in baseball in 2007, and much of that success is attributable to rookie bestowals. For instance, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dustin Pedroia, Hideki Okajima, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and Kason Gabbard (since traded to Texas) have all made vital contributions this season. Much like the great Braves teams of the 1990s, the current Red Sox aren’t afraid to plug in young talent in the midst of a pennant drive.

It’s also impressive that the Sox have been able to improve their young talent base to such an extent despite not having high picks in the June draft. In the Henry era, the Sox have picked 55th, 27th, 23rd, 65th, 17th and 57th in the drafts. Those are low picks, but the Sox have still been able to dig up useful talents like Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Matt Murton (now with the Cubs), Cla Meredith (now with the Padres), Buchholz and Brian Bannister (unsigned and redrafted by the Mets a year later), among others. Indeed, the Sox have cultivated a keen eye for digging up talents in the draft.

This is just ridiculous. Matsuzaka and Okajima were free agent acquisitions. Gabbard did help, but he is gone now in exchange for Eric Gagne, which has not looked like a great trade to this point. Perry does name a few valid players for his argument. Pedroia has been great. Ellsbury and Bucholz have been good so far. So has Papelbon. Lester has a ton of potential. However, if we are going to praise Theo for finding Cla Meredith, why not criticize for trading him for a below average backup catcher, Doug Mirabelli? Why does he get credit for Bannister but none for failing to sign him? Murton he gets a pass on since that was part of the Orlando Cabrera deal that helped them win the 2004 World Series.

The main point is that there is no way Perry can argue these guys have had more of an impact than the Yankees’ young talent has. Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano filled gaping holes in the 2005 team. Melky Cabrera did in 2006. Joba Chamberlain solidified a shaky bullpen in 2007. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have held down rotation spots that were question marks. Outside of Papelbon and Pedroia, no homegrown talent has had much of impact since the Red Sox jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable lead in the East this season. One could include Okajima, who was a legitimate steal on the free agent market, but Daisuke Matsuzaka has been up and down all season and is fading. That signing has not justified the money so far.

Becoming players in the Pacific Rim

The Sox shelled out a lot of bucks to sign Matsuzaka, and the results have been mixed at this point. However, he’s only going to get better. On another level, inking Matsuzaka and Okajima was a coup for Boston, and it now establishes them alongside the Mariners and Yankees as the destinations for high-profile Asian talents. The influx of Asian ballplayers is only going to increase, so Boston’s strong presence in the Pacific Rim is a valuable thing.

Let us ignore the question of why there is no outcome for Matsuzaka possible aside from getting better. The trend for Japanese starters has been that they get hit harder once the league sees them, but that discussion is for another time. The Yankees have by far the most popular player in Japanese baseball. Perry even admits that the Red Sox are not distinguishably better than the Yankees in this area.

Building the brand

This season, the Red Sox lead the majors in road attendance, which speaks to the prominence and far-flung popularity of Red Sox Nation. According to Forbes, the Red Sox have increased their franchise valuation from $230 million in 1998 to $617 million in 2006. Suffice it to say, that’s strong growth, and it’s made even more impressive by the fact that the Red Sox toil in a media market that’s smaller than New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the Bay Area.

Finally, Perry can demonstrate an area where Boston beats New York. The Red Sox lead in road attendance. How valid are his findings, though? Is the sample size too small? This is the first time since 2001 that the Yankees have not led that category (The Yanks finished ahead of the Red Sox in 2001 also). For some reason, Perry uses out of date Forbes franchise values. The Red Sox are worth $724 million in 2007. The Yankees finish ahead again.

Sticking to the plan

Of course, all of it would be for naught if the Sox were burdened with leaders who can’t adhere to the prevailing vision. Henry, CEO Larry Lucchino and Epstein all buy into the mission, and they all pursue it with relentless consistency. Recently, we’ve seen this quality borne out in the deployment of Buchholz. How many organizations, in the throes of a pennant race, would be willing to dispatch a popular young pitcher back to the bullpen immediately after he throws a no-hitter? Credit Epstein and manager Terry Francona for not bowing to pressure and keeping their minds and eyes on the ultimate goal. The Buchholz affair is but one example of this.

The Yankees have been steadfast in their refusal to deal top prospects like Cano, Wang, Cabrera, Kennedy, Hughes, Chamberlain, Alan Horne, and others. That is sticking to a vision. The jury is still out on what the Red Sox did. They are having starting pitchingissues, and they sent an extremely talented pitching coming off a no-hitter out of the rotation. There is no conceivable way to make a final assessment of any merit on that move at this point. It might work out, but it is in no way a slam dunk.

On the whole, you’ve got an organization that should be the envy of all others in baseball. The Boston Red Sox in 2007 are the best team on the field, and they’re the best team in the front office. So don’t be surprised if they’re hoisting a few more trophies in the years to come.

The Red Sox have won the most games this season. That is why they are the envy of baseball. This is not to say that they do not have the best organization in baseball. It is not to say that they do either. It is simply a critique of a poorly written and researched article. Perry did not successfully argue one area where the Red Sox have a clear advantage over the Yankees. The Yankees were discernibly better in many of his talking points. Boston may run the best organization in baseball, but Perry did nothing to prove that the Red Sox trump the Yankees.