Felger & Mazz On: Sox Reluctancy to Make Deadline Moves
Guest host Dave Goucher and Tony Massarotti discuss the AOL Fanhouse report that said the Red Sox are not willing make any trade deadline moves because they would be forced to pay a luxury tax.
Massarotti: "That's how they're going to spin it. But I'm not buying it. Say 'Hey look, we got these guys with injuries. We still haven't even seen our best team on the field yet. Those are going to amount to our trade deadline moves and we're going to get away with it'. I just find this luxury tax thing to be a bit of a crutch. When it comes to the Red Sox, I don't buy it. The last thing I ever want to hear from Red Sox ownership is 'We're not going to spend the extra million bucks'. I just think it's foolish. When I read something twice in 1 week about their unwillingness to necessarily encounter that luxury tax, it makes me feel like they're [Red Sox management] giving up on their own team. There's this mentality and a complacency here about everything is becoming long term. Long term thinking. I wonder whether or not there's still that hunger, and impetus, and urgency to win? Because, quite honestly, I think that's what it takes. I think you have to operate under that urgency or someone else that has it is going to beat you."
Goucher: "Are they [Red Sox] going to play this as 'Okay, when we get our players back, this is the team that made up 8 games in not long a period of time'? Do they play it as 'Okay look, when Pedroia comes back, and when Victor Martinez comes back, and I don't know about Ellsbury. Beckett's going to pitch this week it looks like. Buchholz is going to pitch this week'? Is that how they play it? If we get these guys back, they don't feel the need to go out and do anything dramatic. Therefore, why go over this threshold if you don't need to? Because this team, when healthy, is a team that made up 8 games in the loss column there in a short period of time. You can fill holes on a team, as the Red Sox have done here, for a little while. The key is for a little while, then it catches up to you. You can tread water for awhile, and they've treaded it more than they ever thought they were going to."
