Tyler Kepner has a short piece in the times on Theo Eptein. Theo is quoted as saying;
"If someone wants to compare us to the Yankees based on winning and results, that’s an incredible standard,” said Epstein, the general manager of the Boston Red Sox. “If they want to compare us to the Yankees in how we do things, that’s a little off base.”
Tyler goes on to give credit to the boy genius for all his shrewed moves and his continues investment in developing players.
"Homegrown players contributed directly to the title, including closer Jonathan Papelbon, second baseman Dustin Pedroia and pitcher Jon Lester, who won the clinching game."
I decided to take a look at the Boston team and compare the postseason(ALDS) 25 man roster to that of the Yankees and see where each player was originally acquire; drafter/signed to minor league deal, Trade or Free Agency. Here are the results;
Boston - 10 Free Agency, 9 through Trade, 6 Drafted/Signed
Yankees - 12 Drafted/Signed, 7 Free Agency, 6 through Trade.
So here is where some recent contributions from some young players creates a little bit of false perception. The truth of the matter is the 2004 Red Sox team was built almost completely on imported players and just recently have they begun to produce anything of substance. However, for Theo to imply that the Red Sox do things differently because they give young players more of a chance is just plain wrong. Also, the Yankees might have a starting rotation next year built completely with homegrown players (Wang, Pettitte, Joba, Hughes, and Kennedy) so who relies more on homegrown players again?
