Inside the Red Sox meltdown

You don't want to be on the bench, your choice is to workout, scout other teams or research other team's batters. You are a paid employee, get some work done.

When the game is being played, you are on the roster and expected to contribute, or at least be able to contribute, to the game. If you are needed to pinch run, be sober. We need you to pitch to a batter, be sober.

You want to get drunk, fat and lazy? Do it after the game. When the game is being played, you are expected to be in uniform and on call at all times.

It amazes me that this was allowed. Did Francona ever try to stop it? Was he not backed by upper management?

 

It amazes me that this was allowed. Did Francona ever try to stop it? Was he not backed by upper management?

Yeah, it really is a missing piece of the story.

 

I quickly looked a the story again to see if I had missed it, but I don't think it was brought up.

I know the manager should keep this crap in the clubhouse and not let it trickle up, but, Jesus. I would have thought Theo would have been contacted.

It really makes you think about where all the dirt on Francona was coming from.

 

That article read like the "price of fame" segment about 35 minutes into a "Behind the Music."

The 2011 Red Sox - Bizarro Major League.

 

Here's the thing I kind of wonder about the clubhouse stuff - How uncommon is that for a major league clubhouse? I've never covered a pro team, so I have no clue. I sometimes feel that with a lot of these "clubhouse" stories about the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies and others, it's only a story because you have really intense media scrutiny. From the DWIs in St. Louis and Atlanta, it does seem like drinking and baseball go hand in hand for a lot of players.

 

Here's the part that really bothers me:

"Sources said Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice late in 2010. The pitchers not only continued the routine this year, sources said, but they joined a number of teammates in cutting back on their exercise regimens despite appeals from the team’s strength and conditioning coach Dave Page.

“It’ s hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work,’’ one source said.

For Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, the consequences were apparent as their body fat appeared to increase and pitching skills eroded."

How the fuck can you really write that and expect it be considered good reporting? So Beckett was a Cy Young candidate from May-August, but he fell apart in September, and it was APPARENT his body fat increased? In a month?!? That's shoddy at best.

And until someone proves to me that the clubhouse (under Francona) wasn't the exact same way in 2004 and 2007, I'm not going to believe this was the root of the problem.

 

Bob Hohler's a damn good reporter, but this was dynamiting perch in a barrel for him. Telling that Francona went on the record for the story and his critics did not.
I didn't cover the 2011 team, but I covered the 2004 bunch, and while they were loose, they were not exactly a band of Chip Hiltons in the personal conduct department. If Dave Roberts is a little slower getting down to second base, they'd have been crucified through the anonymous leak method, too. It's a Red Sox tradition. Nobody can just leave, they have to leave because management knew they were bad people.
There's a trail of slime underneath the lyrics to Sweet Caroline.

 

I came away from this one pretty underwhelmed. Seemed like a lot of vague baseball cliches applied after the fact. Not enough leadership and work ethic, which of course only become apparent when a team actually misses the postseason.

 

Can anyone answer if there is a clubhouse in MLB where players on the active roster are drinking beer during the game?

 

Steinbrenner smiles.

 

Well, all I know is they only drink Cokes in Oakland -- and only if they have spare change for the machine.

 

... How soon we forget Esteban Loaiza