John Henry to Marlins " They should apologize for their regular season lineup,"

JOHN HENRY

RED SOX : SPRING TRAINING 2014
March 11,2014.





c/o Ron Chimelis
      The Republican


My new hero is John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Not because his team won the World Series or because he has gazillions of dollars or claims he bought the Boston Globe because newspapers are still vital.

And not because young, beautiful women swoon around him, although I do admire that.

It's because Henry essentially told the Miami Marlins, a franchise he once owned, to stuff it after the Marlins expressed what was reported as "outrage'' over Boston's lineup of mostly minor leaguers to a game at Jupiter, Fla.

"They should apologize for their regular season lineup,'' tweeted Henry, whose team paid a reportedly "small fine'' for ignoring the rule that requires at least four regular major league players to compete for at least three innings each in a spring training game.

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington apologized, because he's a class guy.

But the Red Sox are not the problem. The rule should be removed, for it ignores that spring training is a preparation period and that teams should be able to prepare in ways their manager and front office feel best.

But spring training in 2014 is also big money and show business. For Thursday's game, the Marlins jacked up the prices because the World Series champs were in town.

They can't jack up the prices for their own team, which went on a spending spree in 2012, then contracted buyer's remorse and dumped salary within months. That led to a 100-loss season in 2013.

Remember when Bowie Kuhn nixed Oakland's 1976 deal to sell Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox, saying it was not in baseball's best interests? The old commissioner must be spinning in his grave.

The Marlins have lately made a joke of trying to compete. A spectacular new stadium was built, partly with their money but with heavy expense to the taxpayers.

They had been led to believe Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria was serious about baseball. The best the club could do was try to make some extra cash on the backs of the Red Sox.

When a fan buys a ticket to a spring training game, it comes with the understanding the stars may or may not play. For real baseball fans, the lineup the Red Sox fielded was actually fun to watch.

It included Jackie Bradley Jr., Garin Cecchini, Ryan Lavarnway, Bryce Brentz, Deven Marrero and Allen Webster. All are either major leaguers or will be.

The Grapefruit League lets fans watch the stars of tomorrow today. It was still a Red Sox minor league lineup, but as Henry implied, the Marlins are a minor league team.

It was a 0-0 game until rain ended it in the eighth inning. Imagine the trouncing the Marlins would have endured in front of their own fans had David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia climbed on a bus for a 280-mile round trip, just to please the owners of the other team and abide by a rule that should not exist.

The NBA fined the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 for keeping Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and two other stars home when they played at Miami in 2012. I still don't agree with a league telling a team how to make out a lineup, and the enormity of the fine bordered on criminal, but at least that was a regular-season game, and a showcase at that.

The Red Sox have a job to do. It's to use a long spring training to prepare for the regular season.

They won the 2013 World Series, and the Marlins won 62 games. Henry is right when he says the Marlins should worry about their lineup, not Boston's.