Gresh & Zo: Have Red Sox Fans Gone Soft?
BOSTON (CBS)- The Boston Red Sox may be struggling this season, but fans aren't lining up at Fenway Park with pitchforks. Instead, Red Sox fans seem pretty content to kick back, watch the young guys play and start over next season.
The lack of outrage about the team's performance prompted longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy to write on Sunday, "When Did Boston Go Soft On The Red Sox?" Shaughnessy joined hosts Andy Gresh and Gary Tanguay on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Gresh & Zolak show to discuss their differentiating opinions about the topic.
Gresh says that fans aren't upset about the Sox because they are smart and understand it isn't smart to overpay for players.
"I think people are just more hip to the business of sports now and they have different opinions than, 'Oh my god I love him, we have to do everything we can to sign the guy.'"
Shaughnessy, however, expressed disappointment that the Red Sox aren't spending money on top-tier talent and thinks that the lack of spending has caused fans to temper their expectations.
"In that era, 2002, [2003], [2004], [2005] when there was the best player out there, they were going and getting him or they're competing for him. Keith Foulke was the best closer out there after '03. What did they need? They needed a closer. They paid him more than anybody. Curt Schilling was going to be traded by Arizona because of money," said Shaughnessy. "They were aggressive because they had money."
Tanguay thinks it's a whole separate issue. He thinks fans now are more intrigued by everything but the games.
"I can't remember the last time I heard a phone caller on the radio call up and break down a baseball game and second-guess a manager. Instead they talk contracts, they talk PEDs, they talk issues, they talk trades, and they talk [about] racism."
Listen below for the full discussion:
Has The Red Sox Fan Base Gone Soft?
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