By Chris Cue
February 14, 2009

     In the off season of 2003, Theo Epstein and the Red Sox attempted to trade Manny Ramirez and acquire Alex Rodriguez. In the young life of the current ownership and management, that was the biggest failed attempt at signing a player who eventually went to the Yankees in the 11th hour. Since that time, we have witnessed this occurrence with Johnny Damon and recently with Mark Teixeira. Off season attempts to sign players by this front office have often been trumped by other clubs. Pedro Martinez is another example of a player the Red Sox made an attempt to retain, but came up short to the Mets.

     In each of those cases (Damon, Pedro & A-Rod), one could look at those failures and see them as lucky breaks. Damon is no longer a quailty Centerfielder and if he was retained, the Red Sox would never have seen Coco Crisp or perhaps even Jacoby Ellsbury when they did. Pedro’s story is easy. If the Red Sox had managed to retain him, they would have committed to a pitcher who has spent a significant amount of time on the DL. As far as A-Rod goes, is there any doubt that if that trade had gone through that the Red Sox might never have won the 2004 World Series in which Manny was the MVP? So, what is it with these failed attempts? Luck or is this front office just good at knowing where to draw the line in the sand? Maybe, it’s a little bit of both.

     We’re about to find out if this streak of winning failures is going to continue. A similar situation is now at hand. This front office, whether you agreed with them or not, went after Mark Teixeira pretty aggressively. They did so knowing that if they had signed him, Mike Lowell was going to have to be traded away. Needless to say, they failed once again to get the prize they were after. Or did they? A case can be made that once again they had drawn a line in the sand and were not willing to cross it. Could they have out bid the Yankees for Teixeira’s services? We may never know, but we do know this much….when Scott Boras told John Henry, Theo Epstein and the rest who went to Texas what it would cost to sign him right then and there, they passed. They said no and Henry’s email to the press, widely viewed at the time as a bluff, signaled their refusal to go the extra mile. They had a number and they stuck to it.

     Mark Teixeira is now a Yankee and Mike Lowell remains a member of the Red Sox. Will this most recent failed attempt to acquire a player again work to the advantage of the Red Sox? Who knows. Only time will tell us the end of that story. However, if the track record is any indication, then it would appear that Mike Lowell is about to have a career year. That’s something the Red Sox and their fans should be looking forward to.