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| Painting The Town Beige? |
It seems hard to imagine, but the Boston Red Sox might be on the verge of a
"Beige Period"—a few years where they are so bland that they become irrelevant in an otherwise sports-crazed town. After all, with a solid core of young "Killer B" talent (
Mookie Betts,
Andrew Benintendi,
Xander Bogaerts,
Jackie Bradley, Jr.), and an elite starter/closer combo in
Chris Sale and
Craig Kimbrel, they
should be an electrifying draw. And yet, attendance in 2017 was spotty at best—and the playoff games at Fenway last October
did not sell out. Moreover, anyone who's tried to
give away Red Sox tickets (let alone
sell them) knows it's an almost impossible task. So, what's going on here? Is it
just the loss of
David Ortiz—the most charismatic Red Sox player in decades? Probably not. There's something more fundamental going on here. This ownership group refused to get help at the trade deadline last season—and it resulted in a second consecutive one-round-and-out post-season. Now, they are playing hardball on contract negotiations with a bat they desperately need in
J.D. Martinez. Fans around here
notice this kind of behavior.
These owners (non-Bostonians we need to remember) seem to be resting on their
Three-Ring Legacy. If they're not careful, their franchise could turn into a
Three-Ring-Circus—that no one wants to see.
