July 18, 2009

Theo On Bay, Lugo, Trading Deadline

Theo Epstein said the Red Sox made an "aggressive" offer to Jason Bay about one week ago, but the two sides could not agree on a contract extension. There is now a mutual decision to table any talks until after the season.

Bay wants to remain with the Red Sox:
I'm not trying to set a precedent. Just looking for something that's fair. ... I'd still love to get something done here. I like it here. But that being said, we just basically at this point right now don't want it to be an ongoing distraction ... But the way things have gone so far, like I said, very encouraged with that.
Epstein:
I think we were really hopeful with the aggressive offer that we made that we could have reached a deal now. But we have complete respect for Jason as a player and a person and for what free agency means to players. He's worked his whole career and had a really consistent career to get to a point where he can set his family up for life. ... We'll see what the future brings. We still want to retain him.
Epstein also spoke about Julio Lugo:
[O]wnership has been consistent that we'll do what we need to do to keep the best possible team on the field. A sunk cost is a sunk cost. ... This was one of the free agent signings that doesn't work out. We were paying for past performance, not current performance. That's the true definition of a mistake, and as the decision-maker, that's on me.
Epstein, on the trading deadline:
I think we don't have one glaring weakness, [but] there are opportunities to get better. Exactly which opportunities we pursue or try to pursue relates probably more to health than anything else. ...

We want to create as much depth and redundancy as we possibly can, because if you don't address depth before July 31 or in some cases in August, then you're left without an opportunity to do so down the stretch and into what we hope will be another postseason.

5 comments:

laura k said...

Nice quotes from both Bay and Theo. It's good to see respect for the negotiating process, rather than the usual bad-mouthing of a player who doesn't immediately take what's offered.

Amy said...

Pretty harsh (though deserved) words from Theo on Lugo. Not pulling his punches at all. Lugo was more gracious in his own remarks.

andy said...

Lugo promised one player but he did not show up as promised. I don't care how gracious he is, he was a fraud. He never has been better than any minor leaguer so why pay so much attention to all of this?

laura k said...

Well, we don't expect gracious from you, Andy. Why pay attention? Because Allan blogged about it, so why not.

"He never has been better than any minor leaguer"

That's obviously not true. He had some middle of the pack ML numbers - just never for us.

The guy is gone. It's safe to let go of the hatred now.

Anonymous said...

Y'know, I have to say that as maligned as he was for his play for us, I am definitely impressed with how he has handled his release. I'd like to see him land on his feet somewhere.