Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

by Randy Booth on Mar 19, 2008 1:01 PM EDT in News

Update [2008-3-19 13:1:8 by Randy Booth]: The Red Sox/Jays game is back on with the first pitch scheduled at 1:10 p.m. No word on if any agreement was made. Matsuzaka will not be pitching.

Update [2008-3-19 12:47:40 by Randy Booth]: Still no progress has been made. The Red Sox and Blue Jays game scheduled for 12:05 has been delayed. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was scheduled to start this game, will instead pitch in a minor league game that I believe is going on right now.

After a unanimous clubhouse vote, Red Sox players agreed to not travel to Japan unless coaches and staff are paid for the trip:

''When we voted to go to Japan, that was not a unanimous vote,'' said Lowell, "but we did what our team wanted us to do for Major League Baseball. They promised us the moon and the stars, and then when we committed, they started pulling back. It's not just the coaches, it's the staff, the trainers, a lot of people are affected by this.

"I'm so super proud of this team. When we put it to a vote it was unanimous, we're all in agreement that we're not going to put up with this.''

Manager Terry Francona and his players were extremely irked after learning the team's coaches were not going to get the $40,000 stipend they assumed they'd be getting for making the trip to Japan (players will also receive a payment). Francona had informed the coaches they'd be getting the stipend.

Terry Francona found out his staff wasn't going to get paid after speaking with a coach from Oakland's staff who said they weren't getting paid.

More from coaches and players on the topic:

Red Sox first base coach Luis Alicea said he appreciates the support of the players and feels the entire issue is "embarrassing."

"We all like to feel as if we're part of the team," Alicea said. "We help the players and we appreciate what they're trying to do. We thought this issue was resolved a long time ago. To have it come down to the final day is embarrassing. That's about all I can say about it."

Curt Schilling was one of the players involved in the negotiations last fall.

"We had an agreement. We had an agreement in October," Schilling said. "I was one of the five or six players on the phone call. Some of the things they promised they've already taken away. From the players point of view, we all felt the same way. They can't do this. This can't happen."

It really seems like Major League Baseball dropped (pun intended) the ball here. First of all, you can't just screw over teams like this. It's not right. Secondly, MLB meets the demands the Red Sox have and then renegs them before heading off to Japan? That doesn't make sense considering the MLB is who wants the teams to play in Japan, not the teams. The MLB is throwing gasoline on the fire because traveling to Japan is already a pain in the ass for these guys, add to the situation that most of them aren't getting paid and I don't blame the Sox for boycotting.

The Sox also threatened to boycott today's 12:05 game with the Blue Jays. We'll see how it all plays out through the course of the day.

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Re: Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

Good for the Red Sox for sticking up for the coaches. MLB is awash in cash, like the very ocean itself. Surely, it can afford a few (thousand) bucks for the coaches. They deserve something (even if not $40 K).

The Oakland A's don't really have the star-power to do something like this. I'm glad the Red Sox are taking a stand. I'm confident that they'll force MLB's hand.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Mar 19, 2008 1:18 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

If I'm reading this right, I think that's pretty awesome that the players would stick up for the lesser coaches and staff that seemed to be getting the screw over. Keep in mind that it is only the lesser coaches and staff that are being denied a stipend, and that by boycotting the players would forfiet their extra money for the game that has not been threatened in any way.

So the player are willing to forgo what it most likely a lot more for a day's work to make sure all of their staff personalle get there much lesser stipend. I agree with Lowell, that's pretty awesome that they unaminously agreed to boycott the game if this was not fixed

http://newsshouldbeentertainment.blogspot.com/ when news articles are too long to read

by Realistic on Mar 19, 2008 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

More on the situation

Was there any kind of written agreement?

"It was a verbal, on the phone conversation," said Schilling. "All the negotiations I was involved in on were on the phone."

Francona said it was his understanding that the managers and coaching staffs of the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays received stipends for their season-opening trip to Tokyo in 2004.

Here's the significant part:

To Francona, the matter was a lot more about the coaches than himself.

"For a coach, this is, in some cases, two-fifths of their salary for the year," Francona said. "This is a big deal. I don't agree that coaches are second-class citizens. That has never sat well with me, ever."

Francona was the bench coach for the A's in 2003 when they were scheduled to go to Japan, only to have that journey canceled because of the war in Iraq. In that instance, Francona said that the manager and all the coaches were set to get stipends.

Managers and coaches aren't members of the Players Association.

"The coaches never have leverage," said Schilling. "In all the years I've been in baseball, they're the guys usually taken advantage of in situations like this. In this locker room, they're as much a part of this team as the guys on the field."

(Let it be known that Tito does fractions. Keep doing your math homework, kids.)

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on Mar 19, 2008 1:25 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

Looks like it is resolved:

The Red Sox have confirmed that the pay dispute over compensation for coaches on the Japan trip has been resolved and the team will board the plane to Japan later Wednesday.

by Realistic on Mar 19, 2008 1:31 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

o.k., just got online...
Am I to believe this dispute was over $40K...in total.
$40K...are you effing kidding me, MLB can fart $40K any time it wants, what a bunch of cheap motherf...ers!
Good on the players for sticking up for the rest of the team.

For 40 years I watched the organisation implode at the most inoppertune times, and the last 4 years they finally got their sh*t together and I'm have never been more proud to call myself a Red Sox fan.

by sydneysox on Mar 19, 2008 7:16 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Red Sox players threaten to boycott Japan trip

hm? are you sure it was 40k in total? or 40k for each staff member? i had gotten the impression it was the latter, but it wasnt too clear in any sources i saw.

by spinz on Mar 19, 2008 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions