I appreciate the thread's basic question, and my answer is no. They extended Pedey last year, Ortiz this year. Those two are the clearest veteran leaders on the team. They reupped with Napoli. They have paid to bring in veterans even for platoon and back-up positions over the past 2 years (Gomes, Ross). They offered Salty more per year than the Marlins gave him, iirc. Drew's a professional, good glove guy and all that, but he was here for one year and didn't hit worth a damn in the playoffs, while his young replacement's talent and professional are bleedingly obvious to everyone, including his teammates. No one's moping around because Drew wasn't resigned.
I'm sure the team feels that losing Ellsbury, to a rival no less, hurts. I'm also sure they'd like to see staff ace Lester extended. But Lester's still on the team, and the players know that big contracts can take time to hammer out.
The weather sucks. They've had injuries. They've had some bad luck. They've had little good luck. So they're 6-9. I don't sense a lot of panic or exasperation from the players. So I don't think it's frustration that's leading to poor results.
Let's see where they're at once guys get healthy and the calendar flips to May... I'm betting Cafardo will need a new angle by that time.
I'm sure the team feels that losing Ellsbury, to a rival no less, hurts. I'm also sure they'd like to see staff ace Lester extended. But Lester's still on the team, and the players know that big contracts can take time to hammer out.
The weather sucks. They've had injuries. They've had some bad luck. They've had little good luck. So they're 6-9. I don't sense a lot of panic or exasperation from the players. So I don't think it's frustration that's leading to poor results.
Let's see where they're at once guys get healthy and the calendar flips to May... I'm betting Cafardo will need a new angle by that time.