During last night's opening game travesty at Fenway Park between the Red Sox and the Evil Empire (less said about that the better), I saw this on Twitter from the infamous New York writer Wallace Matthews:
wallace matthews @ESPNNYYankeesInstead of booing Ellsbury, Fenway should be booing whoever made the decision not to bring him back
I responded to that asinine comment with this:
John Quinn @TheMightyQuinnFollow@ESPNNYYankees Sox weren't going to get into bidding war with NY over Ellsbury. Weren't going to give him a bad contract. Do your homework.
I got back this very condescending reply from Matthews:wallace matthews @ESPNNYYankees 13h@TheMightyQuinn lighten up, son. it's only a game
I decided I wasn't going to get into any name-calling with this jerk on Twitter. I just shrugged my shoulders and turned Twitter off. (BTW, I don't follow Matthews on Twitter. A friend retweeted the original post.)
You may remember this guy from the hatchet job he did on Tim Wakefield a number of years ago, when he criticized the legendary knuckleballer for how long his games went, when as it turned out the reverse was true. Or here in 2008 when he defended Roger Clemens.
Nobody ever said sportswriters were smart. But I will NOT criticize Red Sox management's decision to let Jacoby Ellsbury to walk away from the team. The Sox were not going to come anywhere near the bad contract the Yankees gave Ellsbury. (Is he REALLY worth 7 years at $22 million per?) Everyone knew he was leaving, with Jackie Bradley waiting in the wings. That is precisely the kind of deal that got the Red Sox in trouble three years ago. (Right now, the Sox have only ONE player on a long term deal, and that is Dustin Pedroia.) Ellsbury was going to get booed last night at Fenway. He put on the wrong laundry.
But Ellsbury never said he would never go to New York (like another center fielder who will remain nameless), and he made a business decision. So be it. The fans have every right to boo his return if they feel like it. Ellsbury had a good game last night. It was one game against his former club.
Let's see if Matthews still feels the same way the next time Ellsbury has to go for an MRI.