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The Red Sox have the second highest payroll in the MLB, but the gap between them and the Yankees is quite high, according to Theo Epstein. ``Since I've been GM, we've never focused exclusively on the now, and we never will," Epstein said. ``We're not going to change because of a tough month. We are not the Yankees. We admire the Yankees. I admire the Yankees. I respect them. We have to do things different. ``Our approach is a little bit different, given our resources relative to the Yankees; we feel our best way to compete with them year in and year out is to keep one eye on now and one eye on the future and to build something that can sustain success. ``They're also very good at that," Epstein continued. ``We've gone toe-to-toe with those guys taking that approach. I think we're, what, one or two games under .500 against them, and since '03 have won one more World Series than they have taking that approach. We've been in the playoffs every year, just like they have. ``We're not going to change our approach and all of a sudden try to build an uberteam, and all of a sudden win now at the expense of the future. That's not an excuse. I'm not trying to throw some sort of a cloak over the clear holes that are on this team by sort of talking instantly about the future. I'm not. Our goals are now and our goals are to put ourselves in a position to win every single year." |