Whose Departure From the Sox Devastated You Most?

Le Bastonois

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Jun 16, 2019
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Fisk, Lynn, and Burleson, in that order.

Fisk was only the best catcher in the history of the organization, a natural leader, and a New England kid to boot. I'm still convinced Lynn would be in the Hall of Fame had he spent his career in Fenway banging doubles off the Wall and playing great CF. Rooster was a feisty, no-nonsense, dirt-dog, lead-by-example guy who wouldn't tolerate less-than-full effort. Given a bit of pitching, that late 70s-early 80s team should have won a World Series or two, but management ripped it apart, right up the middle.

After that horrible off-season, I knew I'd be able to survive any future organizational incompetency and still be excited for the day pitchers and catchers report.
What made it even more of a, "strange man making breakfast in your mom's kitchen" kind of moment was seeing Burleson and Lynn in a California Angel's uniform and Fisk in a Chicago Whitesox (the silly ones) uni'. Saw the Angels in Seattle and the Whitesox in Oakland. It was strange.

But a point of trade frustration that was to last for years was Jeff Suppan for Freddy Sanchez.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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I haven't really followed the free agent departures for other teams, but do the Red Sox have a weird history of kicking players, managers and executives in the ass on the way out? There seems to be a lot of gossip and acrimony whenever anyone leaves the team.
Personally, I think it's more the media that creates these narratives than the team, with the notable exception of Terry Francona. I mean, we've heard nothing but good things about Cora.

I think baseball itself seems to have more of a "gossip culture" than other sports; random people in front offices are more willing to spill their beans off the record to the media. And the people at the top of the front office over the years (Henry, Werner, Lucchino, Theo, Cherington, Dombrowski) are all fairly intense personalities, as are most of the nameless limited partners.
 

JimD

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Fisk for me - so completely f***ing unnecessary. In the prime of his career - I've always wondered how 1986 would have tuned out if he was on that team. I lost interest in the Sox after that disastrous offseason and the spark was not rekindled until the Clemens 20-k game six years later.

Glad someone else mentioned Luis Tiant going to the Yankees - he was the heart and soul of that mid-1970's Sox powerhouse. As I remember reading Peter Gammons at the time (not sure if he was quoting someone else), it was as if George Steinbrenner completely understood the Boston clubhouse while Red Sox ownership had no clue at all about their own team.

Maybe this is why I don't get the bitterness that some are directing at the Henry-Werner group about a potential Mookie trade - despite some disappointing moments like losing Theo and the 2011 debacle with Francona, their stewardship has been so overwhelmingly good. Younger fans simply cannot comprehend how terrible the Buddy LeRoux-Heywood Sullivan ownership era was.
 

NomarsFool

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I still remember Thanksgiving, looking up on-line to see what was happening in the baseball news and seeing that not only had Mo Vaughn signed with the Angels, but that Bernie Williams was returning to the Yankees. I didn't want Vaughn to leave, but the one possible silver lining was getting another offensive piece, that played a more challenging position, and would make the Yankees weaker. Losing out on both was a real 1-2 gut punch.
 

CPT Neuron

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Pedro/Nomar/Manny in a 3 way heat - those 3 could do no wrong in my eyes and were the greatest pleasure to watch as a fan for their own unique reasons.
 

Bernie Carbohydrate

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I was oddly fond of Mike "Hit Man" Easler. In one of the "why bother?" Red Sox trades of the 1980s, Easler (a DH) was traded, straight up, for Don Baylor (another DH). The idea was that Easler was left-handed, but Baylor was right-handed, and thus Baylor would hit a million balls over the Monster. All I knew was we were bringing in friggin Yankee castoff and the Hit Man was headed out of town.

Even though I hit righty, I emulated Easler's batting stance when I was 14. I hit .260 that year, which made me the 24th man on the roster, instead of the 25th.

You youngsters may recall Easler's stint as a batting coach. I recall him coiled like a cobra, ready to take Jim Palmer deep.

28256
 
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InstaFace

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Hurt most to see Pedro go. I was ready with Nomar and understood. But with Pedro, the 12 months after that departure were the worst, not least because we were probably serious contenders if we'd still had him on board, and without him we got swept by the eventual champs. He was (and is) everything that made me fall in love with sports. I'm OK with the decision in retrospect but that was the one that hurt. It toughened me up for Lester, though.

The right answer to this question is probably Fisk, given the era and how much of his career he had left in front of him. Not that there's anyone still around who could say Babe Ruth.
 

RIFan

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my 12th birthday present... lithograph by armand lamontagne, numbered and signed by the artist and the subject. not a cheap gift from my parents... but still hangs in my office, next to the individual media collage from each WS victory season's day-after newspaper front pages.
As I recall the printer for his lithographs was in his hometown of Pawtucket. My uncle worked as a printer and got me one of the image used for the wood statue Lamontagne created of Ted Williams. It hung on my bedroom wall for years. I have no idea what happened to it, but I wish I still had it.

(They also did what I think were Topps baseball cards back in the day. I never did get him to give me an uncut sheet.)
 

JM3

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Dec 14, 2019
14,284
This one is probably pretty random, but Ellis Burks.

Was my favorite Red Sox player growing up & had been going through some injuries, but thought he was still awesome. Even that one didn't bother me too much.

Lester was the one that was by far the most annoying in terms of a baseball decision in my adulthood, but on the whole I get most of it.
 

Saints Rest

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I was oddly fond of Mike "Hit Man" Easler. In one of the "why bother?" Red Sox trades of the 1980s, Easler (a DH) was traded, straight up, for Don Baylor (another DH). The idea was that Easler was left-handed, but Baylor was right-handed, and thus Baylor would hit a million balls over the Monster. All I knew was we were bringing in friggin Yankee castoff and the Hit Man was headed out of town.

Even thought I hit righty, I emulated Easler's batting stance when I was 14. I hit .260 that year, which made me the 24th man on the roster, instead of the 25th.

You youngsters may recall Easler's stint as a battering coach. I recall him coiled like a cobra, ready to take Jim Palmer deep.

View attachment 28256
I remember that trade. It's gotta be pretty rare in baseball history, even back when MLB player of MLB player trades happened fairly regularly, that a starter at one position was traded straight up for a starter at the same position. And between arch-rivals no less!
 

BaseballJones

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Oct 1, 2015
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Baylor/Easler is interesting...

Baylor
- Last year with NYY: 23 hr, 91 rbi, .231/.330/.430/.760, 109 ops+
- First year with Bos: 31 hr, 94 rbi, .238/.344/.439/.783, 112 ops+

Easler
- Last year with Bos: 16 hr, 74 rbi, .262/.325/.412/.737, 98 ops+
- First year with NYY: 14 hr, 78 rbi, .302/.362/.449/.811, 121 ops+

Boston
- 1985 with Easler: 16 hr, 74 rbi, .262/.325/.412/.737, 98 ops+
- 1986 with Baylor: 31 hr, 94 rbi, .238/.344/.439/.783, 112 ops+

New York
- 1985 with Baylor: 23 hr, 91 rbi, .231/.330/.430/.760, 109 ops+
- 1986 with Easler: 14 hr, 78 rbi, .302/.362/.449/.811, 121 ops+

Boston's ops+ improved 14 points. NY's ops+ improved 12 points.

Both teams benefitted from the trade, obviously. Both players did too. Interesting.
 

Marbleheader

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Probably Mo Vaughn. I loved that guy and couldn't imagine him playing elsewhere. I was too young for Fisk and Lynn. Most guys like Pedro, Manny, Ellsbury, etc. I felt like it was the right decision to let them go. We'll never know, but I think Mo could have had a better finish to his career had he stayed. It would have been great if he was even a part-time player on the 2004 team and got to be part of it.
 

h8mfy

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Jul 15, 2005
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Fisk was a tough one as I was a LL catcher who wore 27 and loved his play and NE stoicism, but I was young at the time and the disappointment was shared across the Lynn and Burleson losses.

When Mo was allowed to leave, I was compelled to write the Red Sox to express my disappointment at the time, though in retrospect we kind of dodged a bullet with him, as a typical "age poorly" guy.

But for me, it was Cecil Cooper - largely because I was lucky enough to attend the HoF game in Cooperstown, and he was the only player who, after getting on the bus, opened the window and signed autographs, which made a real strong impression on a young fan. I can't say whether his departure was good or bad for the team, but I liked and missed him.
 

BuellMiller

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Mar 25, 2015
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I still remember Thanksgiving, looking up on-line to see what was happening in the baseball news and seeing that not only had Mo Vaughn signed with the Angels, but that Bernie Williams was returning to the Yankees. I didn't want Vaughn to leave, but the one possible silver lining was getting another offensive piece, that played a more challenging position, and would make the Yankees weaker. Losing out on both was a real 1-2 gut punch.
This. Add in spending like $6M a year on Offerman, when maybe a little more could have gotten Robbie Alomar.
I’d also add Bruce Hurst to the mix. While Clemens had the better numbers,at least Hurst seemed to come up much bigger in the postseason.
 

NomarsFool

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Dec 21, 2001
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Yeah, Jose Offerman. I had hopes for him. It seemed there was a stretch there where the Sox would get these guys who had great SBs with other clubs, and then wouldn't with Boston. Maybe it was just a different offensive philosophy or something. But, Offerman went from 45 steals with KC to 18 with Boston to then 0.
 

Norm Siebern

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May 12, 2003
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Carlton Fisk. Easily.

What a train wreck that front office was. How did they even have jobs?

Then Jim Lonborg and George Scott.

Edited for clarity.
 

GoDa

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Sep 25, 2017
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Clemens for me.

I did everything I could to copy his pitching mechanics from LL through high school.
 

trs

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I have a bit of an odd one, Bruce Hurst. My introduction to the Red Sox was '86. My first game at Fenway, which would end up being the pennant clincher, not a bad start, was that year. Then I remember watching the ALCS with my grandparents, switching between UHF and VHF channels to try to get some sort of clear signal from Lake Raponda, VT, watching a foul tip fall out of a catcher's mitt and then one pitch later, staying in the mitt (I think...). Anyway, as we all know in the World Series, Hurst threw lights-out, and though I was too young to be allowed on school nights to see the ends of games (thanks, Dad), I saw the beginnings. I later got to see, over and over, the ends thanks to my brother inlaw's Mets 1986 VHS tape.

Hurst would struggle in '87, but was again brilliant in '88, and then, he left?? Too young really to understand free agency, I never really got that. Why would a player leave my team, one that had turned everything around in such an inspiring fashion?

Well he did, and I was sad.
 

8slim

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Nov 6, 2001
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I really started actively following the Sox in '82, so I was a bit too young to comprehend the Fisk/Lynn/Burleson departures.

I loved watching Clemens pitch, but I (erroneously) thought his best days were behind him after '96.

I adored Mo Vaughn, but after encountering him one June night in 1998 at the Foxy Lady, I understood why the team was hesitant to commit to him.

I also adored Nomar, but by July 2004 it seemed clear that things just weren't working, and both sides moving on made sense.

Lester is the one that made me the most angry. Sticking to dogma about pitchers over 30 infuriated me.
 

joyofsox

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Rudi and Fingers?

It's weird. I don't really recall the Rooster-Fisk-Lynn off-season debacle. So I'm not sure: Tiant ... Bill Lee ... Pedro ... Tito ... I never loved a Red Sox manager before (the very idea was laughable) and I know I'll never love another one.
 

Teachdad46

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Oct 14, 2011
128
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I was pissed that Damon went to the MFY. I liked Damon well enough as a player, but for him to go to the MFY really stung. I didn't mind that they let him walk, just moreso who he ended up with, so maybe that doesn't count.

I also hated that they let O-Cab walk after 2004.
AND then meekly got his Jesus-locks shorn like a sheep.
 

patoaflac

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When in the 1980-1981winter Lynn, Burleson and Hobson were traded to the Angels, I considered rooting for them. In April I was, as always, rooting for the Sox.
 

Teachdad46

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Oct 14, 2011
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As a kid it was Fisk and Burleson.
As an adult, it was Damon, because that was my daughter's first favorite player and she was crushed he'd defect to the MFY's.

And, if it counts, no one leaving has bothered me in a long time more than Orsillo.
I say it counts; a lot. And it's right up there for me, as well.
To my knowledge, no one has EVER satisfactorily explained how/why this abomination occurred.
 

bob burda

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Fisk was a tough one as I was a LL catcher who wore 27 and loved his play and NE stoicism, but I was young at the time and the disappointment was shared across the Lynn and Burleson losses.

When Mo was allowed to leave, I was compelled to write the Red Sox to express my disappointment at the time, though in retrospect we kind of dodged a bullet with him, as a typical "age poorly" guy.

But for me, it was Cecil Cooper - largely because I was lucky enough to attend the HoF game in Cooperstown, and he was the only player who, after getting on the bus, opened the window and signed autographs, which made a real strong impression on a young fan. I can't say whether his departure was good or bad for the team, but I liked and missed him.
Your youth must have insulated you from the way "insult was added to injury" with Fisk's departure.

The Lynn/Burleson trades were mostly a fiasco, but at least there had been some return (a good young player in Lansford, some other useful parts - the earlier estimate of Tanana up thread is unfair; he was then embarking on his 2nd career as "league avg. innings eater" - which has value). But while they had both withdrawn arb cases that would have made them free agents in exchange for going to CA with new contracts, Fisk was so furious with Haywood Sullivan's act that he pursued his arb case and won it.

In those early days of free agency the press coverage of player departures was always about how they were "greedy" and "disloyal", but my recollection is that press coverage of Fisk's departure had this sense that Sox management had used the whole mess as a way to exile Fisk from Boston. Most players did not use their contract signing press conference to lament having been unable to stay with the prior club, the way Fisk did.

As also noted up thread, if you were from N.E. he was "one of us" - a NH high school athlete legend, a local kid who made good and hated the Yankees as much as we did, and after the G6 HR he was probably as much the face of the franchise as Yastrzemski. At a minumum, Fisk was a huge piece of the Sox brand at that time.

Had you been older, you would have taken Fisk's departure like a nut punch delivered when you were defenseless and doubled over from the Lynn/Burleson body blow. The player, the circumstances, the timing of the departure, the feeling he was being torn from the fan base - nothing will ever match this.
 

Whoop-La White

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Spike Owen was my first "favorite" player, and I remember being devastated at age 13 when he was traded for John Dopson and Luis Rivera. I think what made it more painful was that it was harder to get news about other teams outside of box scores and Baseball Notes at the time. It's easier now to at least follow and root for a player after they've left.

Some players you can see their departure coming. I felt that way with Nomar, though I didn't expect the trade to come together as quickly as it did. Mo Vaughn's departure was particularly painful and felt like more of a shock, especially since he seemed to embrace Boston (the Jason Leader story, etc.).
 

Koufax

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For some reason, Lester is the one that comes to mind. I was not a Sox fan when the Fisk debacle happened, otherwise that would have been my choice. But from the vantage point of a Dodgers fan, the Fisk move was just confirmation of the ineptitude of the Sox front office. It was funny, really.

I was a season ticket holder when Clemens, Vaughn and Lester left. At the time, it seemed as though both Clemens and Vaughn were in the twilight of their careers, so giving up on them made some sense. The Lester screw-up was epic. A very good to great pitcher in his prime, lost because some nitwit couldn't see how good he was. I was too old to cry, but I was furious.
 

Earthbound64

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At the time, it seemed as though both Clemens and Vaughn were in the twilight of their careers, so giving up on them made some sense. The Lester screw-up was epic. A very good to great pitcher in his prime, lost because some nitwit couldn't see how good he was.
Lester was the same age when he was traded as Vaughn was when he left.
And Vaughn was coming off a season where he had 40 HRs and was just a couple points off the league lead in BA, and had 3 consecutive seasons of >= 150 OPS+

There was nothing to indicate he was going to fall off a dugout step.
 
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Koufax

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Earthbound - I did not realize that. And my reaction is really too cold-blooded. Vaughn meant a lot to the evolution of the Sox for the reasons BringBackMo expressed so well, and he carried a meaning Lester did not. He was the precursor to Big Papi, really.
 

vadertime

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Bruce Hurst. If only because I was kid when it happened, and it was the first time I can remember a player on a team I rooted for leaving, and at the time not understanding why. Since, players leaving as bother me, but I've understood the reasons; trade, family, money, etc.
 

fiskfan75

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Pudge...then Lester. That is until Mookie..he is a joy to watch and this will break my heart
 

Xander Betts Jr.

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Oct 17, 2018
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Mookie will be by far the worst. Perennial MVP contender fan favorite in his prime. just an utter shame this is happening.

Nomar was tough, but he was clearly declining, and the relationship was sour.
Pedro was tough, but he was also clearly declining and wasn't worth the Mets contract.
Adrian Beltre is an honorable mention, even though he wasn't here long, he was so much fun to watch.
Nothing else really comes close for me since i wasnt around for Pudge/Fisk/etc
 

Shaky Walton

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I was OK with Pedro leaving because he was on the downside, albeit still damned good. But I didn't want to see the Sox give him big money.

Nomar was shocking but I trusted Theo and agreed that the 2004 Sox needed to change the dynamic of that team.

For me, seeing Damon go to the Yankees was painful. One, I loved Damon. His two homers in Game 7 are among my favorite sports memories. Seeing him just slay the Yankees to put the finishing touches of the most cathartic, exciting comeback of my lifetime will stay with me forever.

Similarly, seeing him leave FOR NY after just one more season in Boston was tough. It made watching the 04 highlights just a little less enjoyable.
 

rlsb

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Reggie Smith was not good to lose, despite getting Wise and Carbo for him.
 

IowaRedSox

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Pudge, by far, the sheer insanity of the clerical error. But Mookie will be really tough, got two cats last year, thought their names would be around forever, Cora (for the female) and Mookie (for the male).