Yankees can't let Boston mess infect them

The housecleaning of the Boston Red Sox has begun, with the jettisoning of manager Terry Francona and the fleeing of general manager Theo Epstein. But it won’t be over until the Red Sox begin purging themselves of as many of the malcontents in the clubhouse as they possibly can. And when they start doing this, the Yankees need to stay way the hell away from any Boston castoffs.

In what was probably a foolish bid to gain leverage with the Saux, David Ortiz opened the door to signing a contract with the New York Yankees. I think it had to be about his upcoming contract negotiations because I hope Ortiz doesn’t think the Yankees are foolish enough to go after him. But Ortiz is completely clueless if he thinks he is going to endear himself to Red Sox Nation or anyone inside the organization by openly talking about how there is too much drama in Boston and even hinting at signing with the Yankees.

For the Yankees, the mere thought of signing Ortiz has to be laughable. He is 35 years old, a full-time designated hitter with no place on a team that needs to open up that spot to give Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter more days off the field, and the king of the Boston malcontents. Ortiz, supposedly a team leader, could or did do nothing as the Red Sox were falling apart down the stretch. The Yankees have no use for a guy like that and should not let him or the bad vibes out of Boston anywhere near their clubhouse.

I can’t help but think back to Andy Pettitte’s Centerstage interview with Michael Kay when the Yankees lefty was asked about the reported $54 million he was offered to pitch for the Red Sox after the 2003 season. For Pettitte, playing for the Yankees’ archrivals wasn’t even a consideration, as loyal a guy as Pettitte is. It’s too bad Ortiz hasn’t shown the same loyalty to an organization that stuck by him, picking up an expensive $12.5 million option last offseason to the shock of everyone around baseball who thought Ortiz was done.

Thanks to Toasterb at the English language Wikipedia project for the photo.