Alonso had a bad year in 2024.

I was going to remind Sal Licata, but then he remembered:

"With that said, Sal does acknowledge that Alonso lost a lot of negotiating power after having arguably the worst season of his career when it was time to secure a payday.

'Pete had a chance to prove himself in a walk year...and he didn’t,' Sal said. 'He wilted like a little flower until the postseason.

'This is part Pete’s fault for not producing the last couple years.' "

I think the Red Sox have a potential superstar in CF who is underappreciated and overlooked.

Does anyone care about my opinion about the CFer in Boston?

Is anyone in Yankee Universe even paying attention to the Red Sox?

Rivalries ebb and flow and the Yankees rivalry with the Red Sox is in a trough.

Except, of course, in Lupica Land.

Where he dusts off one of his favorite go-tos: Pick a player for the Red Sox (81-win team, third place in AL East, 13 games behind the Yankees, missed the playoffs for the fifth time in the past six seasons) and then compare that player to a Yankee player:

"The Red Sox getting Garrett Crochet could turn out to be as big a pitching move in the AL East as the Yankees getting Max Fried.

And the Sox are spending a lot less money to do it."

And?

Lots of things could turn out lots of ways.

If the Red Sox don't win the World Series, does it matter? Just using the Lupica tried-and-true criteria for success.

So it's a "big pitching move." 

Which means what? 

Which means the Red Sox win 100 games? 120? Or just hang around and go for a wild card?

The baseball analysis isn't even why I am fascinated by this blurb.

It feels like turning on the radio and hearing Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant or some blast from the past you hadn't thought of in a while.

Coco Crisp is better than Jacoby Ellsbury ... and the Red Sox are spending A LOT LESS MONEY.

Sandy Leon is better than Brian McCann ... and the Red Sox are spending A LOT LESS MONEY.

Jonathan Papelbon is better than Mariano Rivera ... and the Red Sox are spending A LOT LESS MONEY. (He probably never said that, but I remember some big Papelbon worship period. I think I remember.)

Babe Dahlgren had half the production of Lou Gehrig ... and the Red Sox spent A LOT LESS MONEY.

Who cares?

I mean, the Red Sox are not irrelevant, but they're not top of mind ... and no one expected the Red Sox to field a team in 2025 without a pitching staff.

Yet every move the Red Sox makes is a Reverse Babe Ruth.

The Garret Crochet signing is an epochal shift.