December 08, 2003
No No Nomar
Red Sox Shortstop Nomar Garciapara is speaking out over the past couple of days, saying that he doesn't want to be traded from Boston. He's saying that he likes the city and the team. He also is protesting that he's not been briefed by the team regarding the trade talks that most everyone believes are ongoing.
He was just interviewed by phone on WEEI Radio. He's still on his honeymoon in Hawaii. I missed the beginning of the interview, but the gist of it seemed to be that he wants everyone to know that he's not unhappy here, and he wants to stay. When asked if he's be willing to play another position if A-Rod came to town, he was non-commital, but he left the door open.
I give him some credit for coming out and saying he wants to be here. Red Sox Nation typically likes a player who appreciates being here.
Just a thought: the Sox recently cut loose second-baseman Todd Walker. Maybe the plan, or one possible plan, is to move Nomar to second. Could work. The thing is, that the conventional wisdom around town is that in order to pay A-Rod's salary, they need to exchange Nomar's $10-15 mil per year for a player in the $5mil range. So it may not be practical to keep both.
This is why the offseason in Boston is only slightly less interesting that the regular season.
Nomar quoted in the Boston Herald:
"No words have ever come out of my mouth -- publicly or privately -- that I don't want to be there," Garciaparra said. "I also believe that my actions have shown I don't want out of there. I go out there and play hard and give it my all, day in and day out, not just on the field, but off. I have a (charitable) foundation there."
This morning's Boston Globe:
No new husband likes surprises on his honeymoon, least of all someone like Nomar Garciaparra, who takes comfort in routine and the predictable. But after the Red Sox shortstop's recent nuptials to soccer star Mia Hamm, Garciaparra received some unexpected news from an unlikely source.
Posted by jghiii at December 8, 2003 01:30 PM