Yes, it's exactly what you think it is. Here's a taste of what would have happened in 2004 (and also 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008):
- The tension of Garciaparra brooding at his locker over his contract, or the uncertainty of whether Manny would feel like playing on a given day, was gone. A-Rod basked in the attention, but surrounded by outsized personalities like Ortiz and Damon, Pedro Martinez and Schilling, there was plenty to go around. Ortiz was like a big brother, Millar the constant needler. And when A-Rod approached Schilling about working together on the charity dear to the pitcher's heart, Schill was won over.
The Yankees, blindsided by the season-ending knee injury third baseman Aaron Boone suffered while playing basketball in his driveway, never recovered. The Red Sox, their offense scoring over 1,000 runs, won the division going away, then ran the table in the postseason, winning their first World Series in 86 years. A-Rod was named MVP. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, appalled that his team had missed out on both Schilling and A-Rod, fired GM Brian Cashman, who could have had Schilling but didn't want to trade Nick Johnson.
Epstein would turn over the roster – Pedro would go, and Damon, Millar and Billy Mueller, and eventually Schilling would retire, but the middle of the lineup remained the same – A-Rod, Ortiz and Magglio. In 2007, A-Rod willingly volunteered to move to third base to make room for Boston's top prospect, shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who tagged along after A-Rod everywhere he went. "This kid will be as good as me,'' A-Rod boasted of his protégé.
Shudder.