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Another reason to love the Red Sox

By Lindsay

The players are getting paid $40,000 each to go play a game in Japan. The coaches? They're getting nothing. Even though they'd been paid in the past. That doesn't sound fair, does it? The guys on the team didn't think so, either.

So this morning the players all got together and unanimously decided that they're going to boycott the game in Japan unless the coaches get paid, too. In fact, they'll even boycott tonight's game against the Blue Jays if the MLB hasn't resolved the issue by game time.

Even better, check this bit out about Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager:

"According to Francona, the coaching staffs of previous MLB trips to Japan all were paid the same stipend as the players. The Sox manager was scheduled to join the Oakland A?s coaching staff in its team?s trip to Japan in 2003 and said it was agreed on that the coaches were to be paid. The trip was ultimately cancelled.

?'I did not have an off day yesterday. I had the phone glued to my ear because I was promised some answers and I haven?t even received a phone call,' Francona said. 'So I?m a little bit stuck. What I want to do this morning is get excited to play a baseball game and what I ended up doing is apologizing to the coaches and being humiliated.'

"Francona has long been a huge advocate of coaches? rights, executing such deeds as using money from television commercials to pay for the coaches? clubhouse fees, and making sure they all are included in his contract with Reebok.

?'This is a touchy situation for me,? Francona said. ?It?s the last thing I want to deal with. I want to deal with getting ready to play baseball. It?s frustrating.

?'They were told they were going to be (paid). For a coach, in some cases, this is two-fifths of their salary for the year. It?s a big deal. I don?t agree that coaches are second-class citizens. That has never sat well with me, ever, and continues to boggle my mind.'?

I love to see teams actually acting like one. :)

EDITED TO SAY that the dispute has been resolved. Unfortunately the MLB didn't agree to pay the coaching staff the same amount as the players, but the Red Sox stepped up and agreed to pay $20,000 in addition to the $20,000 that the MLB offered, making sure each member of the coaching staff receives as much as each of the players.

Red Sox: 1
MLB: 0

No, make that Red Sox: 1, MLB: -1

Fine, the team wouldn't be anywhere without the players. But the players wouldn't be anywhere without their coaching staff, either. Like Mike Lowell (third base) said: "We didn't think that was correct. Giving them half of that is not equal." Since when has it become so acceptable to treat people according to their lot in life rather than according to their being a fellow human being?

Full post as published by Random Ramblings About Life and Law School on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).