A good move? Stay put

John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino aren't stupid. They should get it. Any action that asks either Fort Myers or Lee County to spend a dime on their behalf is shameless.

There is no good reason for the Red Sox to be seeking a new venue. City of Palms Park was built for them in 1992, amid great controversy. It was plopped into the middle of a residential neighborhood, and it could not have been built without forcible evictions. Think West End.

Meanwhile, there is nothing wrong with it. Oh, sure, it needs annual upkeep. Who doesn't? But the fact is this is a perfectly adequate facility, with great seating and sight lines, a very impressive locker room, a proper weight facility, an adequate supply of batting cages, etc. No one can say this isn't a decent facility.

So what's the problem? As far as I can tell, the Red Sox would be happier if their minor league fields, their auxiliary fields, which are about 2 1/2 miles up the street, were attached to the main ballpark, the way they are for the Twins and the Rays, among others. Boo-hoo.

It's a nonissue. The Red Sox are operating from their minor league facility right now. There are enough fields for everyone to get their work in. The major league club will relocate to City of Palms Park when games begin. From that point on, a Red Sox official will have to make that arduous trek 2 1/2 miles up the street if he needs to go to the minor league facility.

The horror!

Things are bad in southwest Florida. According to the New Yorker, "The highest [foreclosure] rate in the country could be found in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, where 12 percent of the area's residences were in foreclosure." A drive down US 41 from Fort Myers to Naples is a shocking and sobering experience. You cannot imagine how many abandoned and shuttered shopping malls there are, and not just along US 41. And that's just the beginning of the shocking story.

So how can the Red Sox even think about hitting up the local taxpayers for a facility estimated to cost between $50 million and $75 million, especially when, no matter what they say, they simply do not need it? They simply want what others have.

Boo-hoo.