More homegrown follies

When I wrote about the Phillies MLB Network-selected all-time homegrown team, I predicted what the Red Sox lineup would look like, but forgot to mention the results.

There wasn't any example as bad as Ryne Sandberg over Chase Utley on the Phillies team, but it was not a perfect selection.

My prediction:

Off the top of my head, and without verifying who is homegrown, here's my prediction for the Red Sox team: C-Carlton Fisk, 1B-Mo Vaughn, 2B-Bobby Doerr,
3B-Wade Boggs, SS-Nomar Garciaparra, OF-Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice, SP-Roger Clemens, RP-Papelbon. We'll see how close I am on March 11.

Well, they put Yaz at first. That's kind of weak but understandable, I guess, because I didn't realize they were picking a position-specific outfield instead of just three outfielders. Accompanying Williams in the outfield were center fielder Tris Speaker and right fielder Babe Ruth.

The biggest outrage for me came at closer, where they went with SoxandPhil Sparky Lyle over Jonathan Papelbon. How many friggin' Yankees can there be on an all-time Red Sox team?

Entering 2010, each had played five seasons for the Red Sox. Papelbon - in a more offensive era - has a 1.84 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 10.4 K/9 in 298 innings. Lyle had a 2.85 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 5.5 K/9 over 331.1 innings.

Each was a fine pitcher, and I'm sure somebody could make a legitimate case for Lyle, but again, on selections like this, extra credit should be awarded to the player more associated with the franchise. Demerits should be awarded for those more closely associated with the enemy.

Oh, and I hadn't even considered Lyle homegrown because he was selected by the Orioles. I only learned recently of MLB Network's criteria that a player had to play at least one game for the major league club to be counted, and he didn't play any games for the Orioles.

Of course, it's entirely possible that the folks at the network were on heavy narcotics when coming up with these teams. Actually, I'm getting them confused with Rangers manager Ron Washington and his positive cocaine test.