http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/2015/12/08/hard-not-like-da...
I'm struck by this piece by noted Boston Globe columnist Chad Finn, looking at the Miley- Smith/Elias trade from the Boston side, and particularly contrasting the two baseball leaders (DD is president of baseball operations, a la Theo Epstein in Chicago, but he makes all the baseball calls) and their styles and their priorities. I found these paragraphs particularly pithy, and salient.
Competence is giving way to the exceptional. With David Price here, the need for an innings eater who at his best buys the bullpen a day of rest isn’t that important. Especially since the bullpen is damn good now. I’m not sure he’s a whole hell of a lot better than Elias, but new Mariners general manager Jerry DiPoto must have seen something he liked during his partial season embedded with the Red Sox.
Watching DiPoto make this deal for the Mariners – and trade away an emerging, productive and popular player in Smith—reminded me of something else I’ve like about the Early Deals of Dombrowski. It may be what I’ve liked the most, actually. He’s enhanced the roster without trading away the players developed and valued by the previous regime.
I commend the whole article to you. But what particularly struck me was what I've been banging on about here, in a series of posted and unposted comments: Those of us who are long-time Mariners' followers, who searched the morning box scores for performances of Kivlehan and Miller and Elias and other favorites, want those players to excel. We are fans of those players. They have not betrayed us- somebody came along and traded them to another team, to our rivals, the Rangers or the Red Sox or the Rays.
By contrast, Chad FInn writes, Dombrowski has maanged to remake the Red Sox- gaining the top pitcher, top reliever, and the Mariners' top reliever in the space of a couplf of weeks- without sacrificing any fan favorites. I wish Jerry D could proceed, with similar regard for my feelings! But- he just wants the cap to succeed- the uniform- no loyalty to the guys.
Swallowing hard- still an M's fan- but, also, still a Kivlehan and Miller asnd Elias fan! Definitely acquiring some "divided loyalties", here.