Really John Henry?

So, John Henry wants a salary cap? He wants it because he can't compete with the big bad Yankees? What a load of freaking garbage. Do the Yankees have far and away the most money imaginable in baseball? Of course they do. But poor John Henry and Larry Lucchino and his Boston cohorts come in probably second because of the Cash Cow that is Fenway Park and the Red Sox nation. The organization that agreed to pay Manny Ramirez's ridiculous salary last year just to get him away from the team is supposed to be the champion of an equal salary playing field? The same Red Sox who paid the gawd-awful Jason Varitek over 10 million last season? Who way, way, way overspent for JD Drew and screwed up the expected salary for above-average outfielders all over the major leagues? Who spent 5 million on a "flyer" for Brad Penny? Who signed the abysmally terrible Julio Lugo for 4 years and 36 million? Who signed Manny Ramirez to a 160 million dollar contract? Those are the Red Sox we're talking about?

And these arrogant SOBs have the gall to claim they are in the same boat as "the other 29 teams" with the Yankees being "the 1 outlier." You know what? The Red Sox are my new most hated team for this reason. At least the Yankees have the testicular fortitude to own up to what they are. They spend, spend, spend, and spend some more. And they are proud of it. The Red Sox meanwhile, rake in hundreds of millions in revenue, sign players to not just big, but stupid contracts and then try to act like they can't compete with the Yanks. Newsflash Red Sox morons: YOU ARE THE DAMN YANKEES! Its just they aren't complete and total hypocrites about it. You guys have done about 95% as much harm as the Yankees have done in driving up salaries. The Lugo, Varitek, Lowell, and Drew contracts were unfathomably terrible. The Manny Ramirez deal was one of the ones that helped usher in the mega-deal era in baseball. And yet you lump yourselves in with the little guys. What a joke.

I also loved how Larry Lucchino, who was apparently hired straight out of a school for people with mental disabilities, tries to fool everyone by not using the word "Salary Cap" and instead using "payroll zone." Installing a Salary Cap and a Salary Floor IS THE EXACT SAME THING as a payroll zone. You aren't gonna pull a fast one on the players' union there, Larry, but nice try.

As for my own thoughts on a salary cap: I think its vastly, vastly overrated. The correlation between spending and winning is not nearly as strong as most make it out to be. Do I think there should be a cap? Ehh yeah I suppose. But I would be just as fine with lowering the luxury tax figure way, way, way down. This past season I believe the luxury tax "soft cap"was 155 million. That's not going to effect anyone's spending. If you can afford to go beyond that you can afford to pay the penalty!! Not that I'd expect Bud Selig to understand that reasoning...or even simple arithmetic for that matter. Lower the luxury tax down to 100 million or so and it's a dollar-for-dollar penalty. In these tough economic times, not even the Yankees can afford to spend 100 million dollars in penalties (I hope). I think this might even have more of an effect on teams because it could definitely hinder a free-spending organization's ability to spend down the line if times get a little tough for them, and sure as hell the Players' Union would accept this quicker than accept a hard salary cap.

Anyway, what do you think? Cap/ No Cap? Luxury Tax/ No Tax? Boston Red Sox: Hypocritic jagoffs or just morons? Let me know.