Showalter Tries So Hard To Be Like The Big Boys

We have rivalries with the Rays and Yankees for supremacy in the AL East. Now that I live in Blue Jays territory, it's great fun to wallop them. ... Do we have to start hating the Orioles now, too?

When he was in Arizona, Showalter had "an overbearing style and a penchant for trying to re-invent the way the game is managed" and was "notorious for being a control freak". He "demanded a new brand of toilet paper in both of Arizona's clubhouses" and once "chided an attendant who handed him a ketchup bottle because it was plastic instead of glass".

So he's a bit of a tool. And now:

I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll. You got Carl Crawford because you paid more than anyone else, and that's what makes you smarter? 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?"

$205 million, eh?

Mr. Facts tells us that the Red Sox payroll has never been higher than $168 million. Next highest payrolls: $143, $133, and $127. Current obligations for 2011: $162 million.

Of course, spending a lot of money won't get you anywhere if you're not intelligent in how you spend it. Showalter needs to look no further than his boss, Peter Angelos, to see an example of that.

Didn't Showalter -- "baseball's biggest brain", according to Men's Journal -- have the luxury of working for the deep-pocketed Yankees? They didn't win shit until they dumped his ass. The same thing happened in Arizona. The Rangers also improved once he was gone. A trend emerges: Fire Buck and win more games.

And why is Showalter talking about Theo? Shouldn't he be knocking fellow manager Terry Francona and his easy success?

The Red Sox -- who went 3-3 against Baltimore last season after Showalter took over -- are in Baltimore on April 26, 27, and 28.

To be fair, Showalter also ripped CI.