What if the Red Sox acquired A-Rod?
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Peter Gammons of MLB.com reminds us that it
was a little more than six years ago that GM Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox had Alex Rodriguez on his way from Texas to Boston until the contract and the Player’s Association got involved.
For those that don’t remember, in the winter of 2003-2004 the Red Sox agreed to send Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester to the Texas Rangers for Rodriguez. The Red Sox were then going to send Nomar Garciaparra to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez and Brandon McCarthy. A-Rod was so ready to get out of Texas that he was willing to lose part of his contract in order to get to Boston. The Player’s Association was not too happy with that, and the sides could not renegotiate the contract and the whole thing “blew up.”
The Yankees eventually umped in to grab A-Rod because Aaron Boone messed up his knee playing basketball that off-season.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox. They won the World Series in 2004 and then again in 2007, but it’s hard to ignore what could have happened if the team had gotten A-Rod. Could there have been more titles in Boston? What would an A-Rod, David Ortiz and Ordonez 3-4-5 combo do for the team? Would the Sox have won the 2007 title without Lester? Did the distractions from Manny help or hurt the team? PRO Rumors Nation – what do you think?
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