Re: The Blue Jays
One thing you might notice about the Sox is that in 2003 they hired Bill James to be their personnel guru, or whatever title they gave him. Basically he was in charge of figuring out which players would really help, and which wouldn't. In case someone doesn't know who Bill James is, he led the wave of "sabermetrics", or the deep mathematical study of baseball statistics (if you can find any of his Baseball Abstracts from the '80s and '90s, they're absolute gems). When they hired him I, they Yankee fan, said "Uh-oh--the curse is over". It happened the next year.
The Sox have been smart about letting veterans go at the right time (Pedro, Nomar and Manny are notable examples) and building the farm system. They may not be infallible, however. And the whole Big Papi problem is, in my humble opinion, a 'roids thing. No proof, but... 1) his big surge came when almost everyone was either doing them, or suspect; 2) his decline came when the testing got tougher; 3) he's Dominican, and almost every Dominican is suspect. Drugs or supplements that are outlawed or prescription-only in the U.S are not only available, but easy to find. And it's also interesting that the Sox traded Nomar for almost nothing, when he was at the top of his game--look at the Sports Illustrated Cover of him, and it just screams "steroids", and now Manny is suspended. Of course, he was just taking a medication that mostly is used for fertility problems in women. I can just see the banners--"Manny--will you have my baby?"
As a Yankee fan, I'm also not excusing the FAR too many 'roid users in that clubhouse: Giambi, Sheffield, A-Rod (probably but not provably as a Yankee), Randy Velarde from earlier years, Clemens and I'm sure many more. All of them, Sox and Yanks and beyond, should be punished more than they have been.
DQ
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