Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter sounded off this week in an interview with Men's Journal Magazine on his competition in the AL East. Showalter first followed up on last year's criticism of Yankee SS Derek Jeter accusing the Yankee Captain of constantly baiting umpires into making bad balls-and-strikes calls by sticking his butt out on pitches inside. Showalter was vocal about how irritated he is at the number of calls Jeter gets because of this and went so far as to yell at Jeter from the dugout last season. The verbal attack was clearly a coaching tool to show the young players of the Orioles that they shouldn't be afraid of anyone. The Orioles improved significantly when Showalter was hired mid-season last year posting a 34-23 record after going 32-73 to start the season. Showalter does have a valid point as Jeter is notorious for this type of gamesmanship but at the same time if it works why stop?
Showalter didn't stop there and went after the Boston Red Sox next by taking a jab at General Manager Theo Epstein. On the subject of the success of Epstein during the past off season Showalter responded,
"I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is the Tampa Bay payroll. You got Carl Crawford 'cause you paid more than anyone else, and that's what makes you smartes? That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, 'How the hell are they beating us?'"
I think it's pretty clear Showalter is taking a Rex Ryan approach to coaching but again he makes a solid point. With no salary cap in baseball, success in Free Agency has been reduced to how much money you can spend. MLB GMs, especially in the big markets like New York, Boston and Los Angeles, don't have to worry about maneuvering their payroll or making value based decisions personnel decisions yet they make more money than their counterparts in any other sport.
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