The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox have been bitter rivals for almost a century. As late as the 2003 playoffs, the Yankees dominated Boston, repeatedly beating the Sox and breaking the hearts of Boston fans in every crucial game. From Babe to Buckner to Bucky Dent, Red Sox fans had watched their team lose the best players and the biggest games to teams from New York City.
The last blow Gotham City delivered against the Beantown faithful was the work of Aaron Boone, who won the 2003 American League Championship Series for the Yanks when he hit an 11th inning walk-off home run in Game 7 off Tim Wakefield.
Since then, however, it all seems to have changed. Beginning in the late autumn of 2003 and continuing right up to the 2007 trade deadline, the Red Sox front office has repeatedly outmaneuvered Yankee management in virtually every personnel move that the respective teams have made. A comparison between the decisions made by Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner compared to those made by Theo Epstein and Larry Lucchino reveals that the Sox keep making the right moves at the right time. The Yankees? They've consistently been a day late and a dollar long.
1. Curt Schilling v. Randy Johnson
Before the 2004 season, the Red Sox traded away Casey Fossum, Jorge DeLa Rosa and Brandon Lyon for Curt Schilling. Schilling, of course, was the pitcher who dominated the Yankees in the 2001 World Series, leading the Diamondbacks to their first World Series and taking home one-half of the Fall Classic's MVP award.
With the Red Sox, Schilling was dominant in the 2004 regular season, winning 21 games, striking out 203 batters and posting a 3.26 ERA. He finished second in the Cy Young Award voting.
The players they traded away? Fossum went 4-15 with a 6.64 ERA in 2004. Lyon missed the 2004 season with injuries and then went 0-2 with a 6.44 ERA in 2005. De la Rosa is 15-22 with a 5.68 ERA since the trade. It was a good deal.
It became even better when the Red Sox earned a rematch with the Bombers in the 2004 ALCS. Schilling pitched the memorable 'bloody sock' game, which helped Boston become the first team ever to come back from a 3 games to 0 deficit. He also pitched six brilliant innings in Game 2 of his team's World Series sweep over the Cardinals.
The Curse was finally reversed.
In the off-season, in an effort to keep pace with Boston, the Yankees brouht in the co-winner of 2001 World Series MVP, Randy Johnson. He pitched two rather forgettable years in the Bronx, highlighted more by back injuries and temper tantrums than by wins and strikeouts. The Yankees got Johnson a couple of years too late, and paid him a few million dollars too much.
Winner: Boston
2. Josh Beckett vs. Carl Pavano
The Yankees other move before the 2005 season was their free agent acquisition of Florida Marlins starter Carl Pavano. Now, Pavano had a very good season in 2004, going 18-6 with a 3.00 ERA. But this was the same pitcher who had a career record below .500 and a lifetime ERA over 4.00. He also had a history of injuries that had severely limited his starts from 1998 through 2002.
The Yanks brought him in at a price of 4 years, $40 million. Usually, when a team signs a 28 year old pitcher for that much money, they are hoping fro 60 wins in four seasons. Pavano did not even come close. Injury after injury limited Carl to 17 games in 2005, zero in 2006, two in 2007, and will not pitch any games in 2008. His four year record with New York will therefore be 5-6 with an ERA of 4.77.
By contrast, the Red Sox waited a year for another young Marlins pitcher, 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett, who had shut down the Yankees in that edition of the Fall Classic. In his first two years in Boston, Beckett is 29-16 and averaging 1.2 strikeouts per inning.
Winner: Boston (by a lot)
3. Dice K. v. Kei Igawa
In the offseason between 2006 and 2007, baseball fans learned about the concept of a "posting fee." This fee was an amount of money that a Major League team would have to put in escrow just for the right to speak with the Japanese teams that owned the rights to two Japanese pitchers whom American scouts claimed were the best in the Far East.
The top pitcher was Daiszuke Matsuzaka, and the runner-up was Kei Igawa. The Red Sox bid as high as the sky for Matsuzaka, paying $52 million just to negotiate with him. They ultimately signed him to a six year deal worth $51 million, which combined with the posting fee that was released to Dice-K's team once he signed with Boston, totalled $103 million over 6 years.
The Yankees chose to bid for both Dice-K and Igawa. They lost the first bid badly, and won the second bid. They signed Igawa to a 6 year deal worth almost $60 million when the posting fee was included.
Dice-K has been a sensation. Through two-thirds of his first season in Beantown, he is 12-8 with a 3.75 ERA and 144 Ks in 142 innings.
Kei Igawa has been a disaster. He is 2-3 with a 6.79 ERA. His WHIP is just under 1.70 and his strikeout to walk ratio is an unacceptable 1.6 to 1.
Winner: Boston (by a Lot)
4. Eric Gagne vs. Wilson Betemit
The 2007 trading deadline showed just how far ahead of the Yankees the Red Sox have gone. At a time when New York desperately needed to shore up their bullpen, they could not reach a deal with the Texas Rangers for Eric Gagne. The reason? The Yankees didn't want to trade away any of their top three minor league starters.
It was a smart non-move. But if the Yankees had made smarter deals in the past than paying huge bucks for Johnson, Pavano, Igawa and even Roger Clemens, they may not have been in a position to so desperately need a reliever. Or, if they had spent that money more wisely on good, healthy starting pitching, they could have let minor leaguer Ian Kennedy go in return for Gagne, who would have shortened Yankee games to seven innings.
The Yankees got light-hitting utility man Wilson Betemit instead. Not a bad guy, but he is not what they needed, and he is not Eric Gagne.
Winner: Red Sox
