BOSTON (AP)—Sandy Alomar Jr. is interviewing for the Boston Red Sox
manager’s job.

Alomar was scheduled to meet with reporters on Wednesday night after a day
of talking with Red Sox officials. He’s the third to interview for the job,
after Pete Mackanin and Dale Sveum. Mike Maddux withdrew his name from
consideration.

The job opened when the team parted ways with Terry Francona after eight
years and two World Series championships. The new manager will work with new
general manager Ben Cherington to rebuild after this season’s unprecedented
September collapse.

Also scheduled to interview are Torey Lovullo and Gene Lamont.

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When Dave Page was told Tuesday that he was fired as the strength and conditioning coach for the Boston Red Sox, he said it felt as if he was being made a scapegoat for the players’ fitness woes.

“The bottom line is we weren’t ready to play physically, fundamentally or mentally the way we should have been, like a championship team should have been,” Page said during a nearly 20-minute interview on Boston sports radio station WEEI on Friday afternoon.

Page said that the perception there were players on this Red Sox team that weren’t focused on maintaining their conditioning, particularly in September, was a correct one. The Red Sox went 7-20 in September to slide out of the playoff race.

Page said there were four players in particular — one position player, one starting pitcher and two relievers — whose fitness was deemed unsatisfactory at the end of the season.

“We got to the end of the year and we had four guys that we thought didn’t make it to that part of the season where we hoped they would be,” said Page, who declined to identify the players. “For the most part, most of all of everybody else stayed within range of where we wanted them to be.”

“

The bottom line is we weren’t ready to play physically, fundamentally or mentally the way we should have been, like a championship team should have been.

”
– Ex-Red Sox strength coach Dave Page

In fact, Page explained, he had approached one player during the final series of the season in Baltimore to discuss why that player had seemingly given up on staying in shape. The player didn’t have an answer, he said.

“I did have a good conversation with one player at the end of the year in Baltimore that kind of opened my eyes,” Page said. “I said, ‘Hey, what’s going on here, bro? It seems like you’ve pulled the plug a little bit, and why?’ He kind of looked down at the ground, looked back at me and said: ‘I don’t know why. I can’t answer that question.’ Which was kind of a shock.”

Page would not identify the player, though he did tell WEEI it was not Josh Beckett, who has taken the most heat in the aftermath of the team’s collapse and reports of lethargy, beer-drinking and fried-chicken eating in the clubhouse. He did reveal, however, that Beckett was concerned with his weight. By the end of the season, even fans had noticed the pitcher had put on pounds.

“He did express some concerns himself,” Page said. “In fact, he brought it up to me and the other members of our training staff, that he felt he was getting a little sideways, so to speak, with his weight. I don’t think it was something that was just noticed by us. I certainly think he felt the same way.”

The veteran right-hander finished the season with a 13-7 record and a 2.89 ERA in 30 starts, but he had a 5.40 ERA in his last five starts and gave up 12 runs in his last two.

Page told the Boston Herald the primary reason Beckett cut back on workouts was because it was producing results. According to Page, during Beckett’s dominant stretch in May and June, the pitcher had reduced his fitness regimen. Because he had pitched great during that span — a 4-2 record and a 1.97 ERA in 10 starts — he decided to stick with that routine hoping that the success would carry throughout the summer and into the fall.

“He did things that were away from his normal program,” Page told the Herald. “A lot of it, Josh is a routine-oriented guy. If he pitches well doing one thing for those four days leading up to that start, he’s probably going to do it again. It’s funny to say, but he’s got some superstitious tendencies that way. That’s not an abnormal thing in baseball.

“But what happened was he had a string of really good starts where he wasn’t doing the things we used to do in ’07, ’08 and ’09, and he was having success with it. And he’s like, ‘I’m feeling good doing these things, so I’m going to stick with it.’ For the short term, it probably worked. For the long term, it probably wasn’t the best plan.”

Page explained that each player’s workout routine is tapered toward the end of the season, but he said he was still surprised by how much certain players cut back.

“There were some guys who peeled it back more than I thought, more than I would have liked them to,” Page said. “For the most part this team worked hard.”

The things Page was noticing about his players’ conditioning were passed along to the front office and manager Terry Francona, he explained. Page said part of his job entailed sending a weekly report on players’ fitness routines.

“If somebody wasn’t represented on that sheet, everybody would know about it every week,” Page said.

He also said he went to Red Sox staff members to express concerns.

“There were a couple of times when someone from the front office or the uniformed coaches would come to me and say something, but for the most part, it was me going to them saying, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble reaching this guy,’ ” Page said. ” ‘Can you give me some backup here? Let’s try to use my words and your voice and see what happens.’ “

Did he feel as if he was being supported by management in trying to get some players in line?

“I would say it’s been a lot better in the past,” Page said.

Page, like many players and executives before him, downplayed the presence of beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse.

“There was a lot of grumblings but I think that whole chicken-and-beer thing has gotten a lot of unnecessary play, to be honest with you,” he said. “I really didn’t see chicken in the clubhouse all that often.

“If they were drinking beer it was probably upstairs and I wasn’t up there. You’ll see the starting pitcher drink a beer when he comes out of the game, that’s pretty common. In my opinion it wasn’t as rampant as it’s gotten to be made out to be.”

Along with Page, who had been the team’s strength and conditioning coach since 2006, the Red Sox fired assistant trainer Greg Barajas, who had been a trainer with the Sox since 2009 after spending 12 seasons as a minor league trainer.

Page said that since his firing, he’s estimated he has heard from about 90 percent of the Red Sox’s current roster expressing support. One of the players, Page said, texted him saying he felt guilty.

“He texted me and said, ‘I feel this is all my fault,’ ” Page said. “I don’t want to say who it was, because that’s between him and me. But he did say that.”

The Red Sox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Joe McDonald covers the Red Sox and Bruins for ESPNBoston.com.

Follow Joe McDonald on Twitter: @espnJoeyMac

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

The Boston Red Sox face uncertainty in 2012 and things just got worse. In his introductory press conference, new General Manager Ben Cherington said pitcher John Lackey(notes) needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2012 MLB season.

This is not a big surprise as catcher Jason Varitek(notes) said Lackey was pitching through injuries the entire season. That might explain his decline, as he finished with a 6.41 ERA and a 12-12 record for the Red Sox. The news also take a little of the focus off Lackey for the controversies at the end of the season.

Lackey was one of three pitchers, alongside Jon Lester(notes) and Josh Beckett(notes), who reached infamy when it was discovered they drank beer, ate chicken and played poker during the games they weren’t pitching. This caused many fans to question their dedication since they chose not to remain on the bench and cheer the Red Sox on. They also noticeably ballooned in weight through the end of the season, attributed to the beer and chicken.

Doctors examined Lackey’s arm on Oct. 24 and Lackey agreed to have surgery to fix the problem. Tommy John Surgery is a procedure when doctors replace a ligament in the elbow with a tendon from another part of the body. After an individual undergoes Tommy John surgery, recovery time for pitchers is normally 12-15 months depending on the athlete.

Lackey joins Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes) on the DL for 2012. Matsuzaka underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2011 and Boston does not expect him back until the midway point of 2012 at the earliest.

These injuries leave Boston with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz(notes) as the only remaining starters. Relief pitcher Alfredo Aceves(notes) looks ready to move into the starting lineup. That means that the Red Six will look for a fifth starter but Cherington made comments about not looking to bring in high priced starters, a change for the Red Sox organization in recent years.

The Red Sox do get a bonus with the loss. Lackey’s contract stated that if he missed any time from 2010-14 due to his previous elbow injuries, his salary for 2015 drops to the league minimum, which makes his average salary drop almost $2.7 million a year.

Source: Yahoo! Sports

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Ben Cherington was introduced Tuesday as the general manager of the Boston Red Sox after spending three seasons as Theo Epstein’s assistant.

The 37-year-old Cherington appeared at a news conference three hours after one in Chicago at which the Cubs introduced Epstein as their president of baseball operations.

Cherington’s top priorities will be finding a manager to replace Terry Francona, who left two days after the Red Sox completed a September collapse that left them out of the playoffs. Cherington also must decide whether to try to retain designated hitter David Ortiz and closer Jonathan Papelbon, who can become free agents.

And he will be working on obtaining compensation from the Cubs for hiring Epstein with one year left on his Red Sox contract.

In Chicago, Epstein said he knew it was time to move on from Boston, even though it meant leaving the team he loved.

“After 10 years, no matter how passionate you are, you see the same issues, day after day and you are around the same people day after day,” Epstein said. “You are around the same landscape day after day for 10 years and eventually you will benefit from a new landscape and fresh problems.”

The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908 and one of Epstein’s first decisions will be deciding the future of manager Mike Quade, who has a year left on his two-year deal. Chicago was 71-91 last season.

Tommy John surgery ahead for Lackey

John Lackey will undergo reconstructive elbow surgery and miss the 2012 season, the latest setback in his rough year with the Boston Red Sox.

New general manager Ben Cherington made the announcement Tuesday.

Lackey, a right-hander, was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA in the second year of a five-year, $82.5 million contract. The Boston Globe reported after the season that he and fellow starters Josh Beckett and Jon Lester drank beer and ate fried chicken in the clubhouse during games in which they were not pitching.

Cherington said the Tommy John surgery probably would be performed by noted orthopedist Dr. Lewis Yocum, but he did not know when. Lackey had elbow soreness during the season and had an MRI exam in May or June, Cherington said. He had another one after the season and was examined recently by Yocum in Los Angeles.

“John Lackey pitched through circumstances this year that I don’t think any of us in this room can fully understand,” Cherington said, “and he got beat up for it a little bit along the way. This guy was dealing with some stuff both on the field and off the field that were really difficult.

“I thought he showed tremendous toughness pitching through that.”

Late in the season, Lackey filed for divorce. His wife has breast cancer.

In May, after a bad outing, Lackey said, “Everything in my life sucks right now, to be honest with you.”

The usual rehabilitation period from Tommy John surgery is at least 12 months.

Briefly

Blue Jays block Red Sox: The Toronto Blue Jays don’t intend to let manager John Farrell leave for the same job with the Boston Red Sox. The Jays issued a statement Tuesday that said employees won’t be permitted to leave for the same job in another organization — essentially blocking a move by Farrell back to the Red Sox.

Farrell spent four seasons as Boston’s pitching coach before being hired to manage the Blue Jays last year. The team finished fourth in the A.L. East with an 81-81 record.

Royals hire pitching coach: Former Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland was added to Royals manager Ned Yost’s staff on Tuesday.

He’ll be charged with developing a young starting rotation that was long on talent but too often short on results this season, when the Royals finished 71-91 and 24 games out of first place in the A.L. Central.

Ticket holders get voice: Los Angeles Dodgers season-ticket holders are getting seats on the creditors committee in the team’s bankruptcy case. The U.S. trustee for Delaware’s bankruptcy court on Tuesday appointed two representatives of the season-ticket holders to the Dodgers’ official committee of unsecured creditors.

Nathan bought out: Right-hander Joe Nathan will get a $2million buyout after the Minnesota Twins declined the club option on the closer for the 2012 season.

Twins general manager Bill Smith said the team is interested in re-signing Nathan. The option for 2012 was $12.5 million.

A’s release right-hander: The Oakland Athletics have released right-handed reliever Michael Wuertz and claimed right-hander Evan Scribner and outfielder Cedric Hunter off waivers from the San Diego Padres.

Brewers’ Narveson has surgery: Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Chris Narveson has had surgery on his left hip and is expected to be ready for spring training. Narveson was 11-8 with a 4.45 ERA this season.

– From Our Press Services

That’s all for today.

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Published: Oct. 19, 2011 at 2:16 PM

BOSTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) — Three Boston Red Sox pitchers have denied a report that they drank beer in the dugout during games.

The Boston Globe said Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey denied the WHDH-TV, Boston, report Tuesday that the pitchers drank Bud Light in the dugout as early as the sixth inning in some games and the drinking became more frequent as the season progressed.

WHDH cited two unidentified team employees, and the Globe said it later confirmed the report.

But the Red Sox issued a news release Tuesday night in which the team and all three pitchers denied the allegation.

“The accusation that we were drinking in the dugout during games is completely false,” Lester said in the release. “Anonymous sources are continuing to provide exaggerated and, in this case, inaccurate information to the media.”

WHDH said Beckett had instigated the drinking, the Globe reported.

“I cannot let this allegation go without response; enough is enough,” Beckett said in the release. “I admit that I made mistakes along the way this season, but this has gone too far. To say that we drank in the dugout during the game is not true.”

“There are things that went on this season that shouldn’t have happened, but this latest rumor is not true, and I felt that it was important to try to stop this from going any further,” Lackey said.

Team President Larry Lucchino said the pitchers “assured us that the allegation that surfaced today about drinking in the dugout during games in 2011 is false, and we accept their statements as honest and factual.”

The Globe said Lester has admitted drinking beer with Josh Beckett and John Lackey in the clubhouse during games but not the dugout.

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The he-said, she-said debate about the Boston Red Sox continued late Tuesday night, when the Red Sox released statements from three controversy-riddled pitchers, former manager Terry Francona and CEO Larry Luchino, all denying a report that the Red Sox drank beer in the dugout during games.

Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey have all been under fierce criticism from the media since the Red Sox season ended in collapse and turmoil. They did not deny drinking beer in the clubhouse, but contradicted a WHDH-TV report saying the beer consumption extended to the dugout.

“I cannot let this allegation go without response; enough is enough,” said Beckett. “I admit that I made mistakes along the way this season, but this has gone too far. To say that we drank in the dugout during the game is not true.”    

Beckett and Lackey were both making their first public comments since reports that the Red Sox pitchers routinely drank beer at the ballpark. 

“There are things that went on this season that shouldn’t have happened, but this latest rumor is not true, and I felt that it was important to try to stop this from going any further,” Lackey said.  

Lester earlier admitted to having an occasional beer in the clubhouse, but downplayed the initial reports and said the latest one is simply false. 

“The accusation that we were drinking in the dugout during games is completely false,” Lester said on Tuesday night. “Anonymous sources are continuing to provide exaggerated and, in this case, inaccurate information to the media.”    

Francona said he has never seen anyone drinking in the clubhouse in 32 years of professional baseball. 

For more Red Sox coverage, visit our team page, our our blog Over the Monster.

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Embattled Red Sox pitchers Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey denied a TV report Tuesday that said they drank beer in the dugout during games.

The allegation is the latest in a rough stretch for Boston, which missed the playoffs following a record collapse, going 7-20 in September and finishing at 90-72.

Manager Terry Francona was let go last month, general manager Theo Epstein appears to be on his way out and Lester, Beckett and Lackey have caught much of the blame for the team’s season-ending skid.

“Tonight our organization has heard directly from Jon, Josh, John, and former manager Terry Francona,” team president Larry Lucchino said Tuesday in a release.

“Each has assured us that the allegation that surfaced today about drinking in the dugout during games in 2011 is false, and we accept their statements as honest and factual.

“It is time to look forward and move forward, rather than allow a reckless, unsubstantiated accusation from ‘anonymous sources’ to mislead the public.”

WHDH-TV, citing two unidentified Red Sox employees, reported Tuesday that Beckett, Lester and Lackey would fill their cups with beer in the Fenway Park clubhouse, then return to the dugout and drink while watching the game.

One of the employees told WHDH-TV the three starters appeared “bored on nights they weren’t pitching and this is how they entertained themselves.”

“The accusation that we were drinking in the dugout during games is completely false,” Lester said in the release issued by the team. “Anonymous sources are continuing to provide exaggerated and, in this case, inaccurate information to the media.”

Said Beckett: “I cannot let this allegation go without response; enough is enough. I admit that I made mistakes along the way this season, but this has gone too far. To say that we drank in the dugout during the game is not true.”

The Boston Globe reported last Wednesday that Beckett, Lackey and Lester would eat fried chicken, drink beer and play video games in the clubhouse during games, instead of being in the dugout with their teammates. That story was based on “team sources.”

“There are things that went on this season that shouldn’t have happened, but this latest rumour is not true,” Lackey said in Tuesday’s release, “and I felt that it was important to try to stop this from going any further.”

Said Francona: “In 32 years of professional baseball, I have never seen someone drinking beer in the dugout.”

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What do you guys think about this.

Updated Oct 19, 2011 2:42 AM ET

BOSTON (AP)

Embattled Red Sox pitchers Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey denied a TV report Tuesday that said they drank beer in the dugout during games.

The allegation is the latest in a rough stretch for Boston, which missed the playoffs following a record collapse, going 7-20 in September and finishing at 90-72.

Manager Terry Francona was let go last month, general manager Theo Epstein appears to be on his way out and Lester, Beckett and Lackey have caught much of the blame for the team’s season-ending skid.

”Tonight our organization has heard directly from Jon, Josh, John, and former manager Terry Francona,” team president Larry Lucchino said Tuesday in a release.

”Each has assured us that the allegation that surfaced today about drinking in the dugout during games in 2011 is false, and we accept their statements as honest and factual.

”It is time to look forward and move forward, rather than allow a reckless, unsubstantiated accusation from ‘anonymous sources’ to mislead the public.”

WHDH-TV, citing two unidentified Red Sox employees, reported Tuesday that Beckett, Lester and Lackey would fill their cups with beer in the Fenway Park clubhouse, then return to the dugout and drink while watching the game.

One of the employees told WHDH-TV the three starters appeared ”bored on nights they weren’t pitching and this is how they entertained themselves.”

”The accusation that we were drinking in the dugout during games is completely false,” Lester said in the release issued by the team. ”Anonymous sources are continuing to provide exaggerated and, in this case, inaccurate information to the media.”

Said Beckett: ”I cannot let this allegation go without response; enough is enough. I admit that I made mistakes along the way this season, but this has gone too far. To say that we drank in the dugout during the game is not true.”

The Boston Globe reported last Wednesday that Beckett, Lackey and Lester would eat fried chicken, drink beer and play video games in the clubhouse during games, instead of being in the dugout with their teammates. That story was based on ”team sources.”

”There are things that went on this season that shouldn’t have happened, but this latest rumor is not true,” Lackey said in Tuesday’s release, ”and I felt that it was important to try to stop this from going any further.”

Said Francona: ”In 32 years of professional baseball, I have never seen someone drinking beer in the dugout.”

There is the quick update of the day.

By Dave Shook

– Associate Editor

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Oct 12, 2011 – Thursday, the Boston Globe released a much publicized story on the state of the 2011 Boston Red Sox, that implied that former manager Terry Francona had lost all control of the team while struggling with his marriage and multiple knee injuries that may or may not have caused him to develop an addiction to pain killers.

Team sources said Francona, who has acknowledged losing influence with some former team leaders, appeared distracted during the season by issues related to his troubled marriage and to his health.

The piece goes on to describe the level of discontent in the clubhouse ranging from Adrian Gonzalez’ bizarre quote about having to play too many Sunday night games to the speculation of increased body fat of the pitching staff thanks to a steady diet of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, fried chicken and beer.  Coupled with Tim Wakefield’s selfish pursuit of win #200 (read: going out and pitching every five days), this caused the entire team to forget how to play baseball.

The story, of course, is little more than a hatchet job from the propaganda arm of the Red Sox.  All of these facts were well known by the Globe weeks ago but either went unreported in order to protect a team that was still the midst of a playoff chase or were fed to the writers by an ownership group trying to deflect blame.

Now that the season is over and big changes are on the way, the paper has begun to spin the teams spectacular collapse toward the players and away from the increasingly disinterested owners who signed off on the outrageous contracts that brought this group together.

Make no mistake about it, had the Red Sox made the playoffs and avoided their major collapse, this story would have never seen the light of day.

Why would the Globe be so anxious to bend to the will of Sox ownership?

The Boston Globe, in case people have forgotten is owned by the New York Times which owns a minority stake in the Red Sox (although that stake was decreased back in July when the Times sold off about half of its 20% interest).  Therefore, the Globe has a vested interest in keeping the owners of the Red Sox happy and not interfering with the team’s focus during the season by, you know,  doing their jobs.

Our own Bruce Allen was the first to question whether the Globe was sitting on the story of the teams dysfunction throughout the final weeks of the season, but not only does that appear to be the case, it also seems that the Sox ownership is dictating stories to its media subordinate.

The story is backed up by the ever popular “anonymous sources” and only a few player quotes, all of which have no relevance to the narrative that the team was disjointed and disliked playing together.

The kicker, at least for me, was the line about management being split on the pursuit of Carl Crawford, and laying the blame at the feet of the soon to be departed Theo Epstein.

Ownership was divided over Epstein’s push to acquire Crawford as a free agent, sources said. At least one top executive believed Crawford’s skills as a speedy lefthanded-hitting outfielder seemed to duplicate Ellsbury’s.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if there was any divide whatsoever on a player that is going to earn $142 million and be a cornerstone of the franchise, the deal doesn’t get done.  Given that nobody but the people in the room would have known about a potential divide, this pretty much guarantees that the bulk of the story came from Sox ownership and was designed to take the heat off themselves and put it on people who aren’t with the franchise anymore and don’t have to answer questions about it.

The Globe has long been accused of a lack of transparency when it comes to playing favorites, whether it be in the realm of politics or when it comes to the topic of the Red Sox.  But, in this particular instance, the Globe has sunk has to a new low in selling what remained of its journalistic integrity to bow to the whims of men like John Henry and Larry Lucchino.

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As the postseason soldiers on, the eliminated teams are facing an offseason filled with golf rounds and hot-stove strategery.

But we’re not going to let them get off that easy. No sir. No way. In an attempt to bring some closure between franchise and follower, we’re giving a blogger from each team the opportunity to detain their squads for the equivalent of a Saturday morning detention stay.

Up next in our series is our old pal Kris Liakos. He’d like to know what kind of beers Boston’s pitcher were crushing in the clubhouse, but he can probably already guess.

Alright, 2011 Boston Red Sox. Have a seat over there. We can’t dwell on this too long. We’ve got a couple of your other divisional cronies due in here pretty soon. You look surprised to be here, Golden Boys. Well not as surprised as I am, I’ll tell you that. I had such high hopes for you going into this year. The way you fell apart at the end of the year … just a month before graduating! You lost a nine-game lead quicker than any other team in history. It’s just kind of a shock, kid.

You know, 2011 Boston Red Sox. I’m not even mad. I’m disappointed because your family had really turned a corner around here. Your older brothers, 2004 and 2007 were model students. Top of their class! Who’d have thought you’d have more in common with your uncles from ’78 and ’06. And the arrogance! You guys just strolled in here, started the season 2-10 and were working out of a hole right from the start. I bet you would have liked to have had one or two of those games back by the end of your stinkbomb September.

Or maybe you wouldn’t have. Maybe you just didn’t care at all and that’s the worst part of all this. By the time you guys lost your 18th game of that month in Baltimore, you were a chore to watch. You had all the potential in the world and you have no one to blame but yourself. Especially you, John Lackey(notes).

Punishable Offenses: Your attendance sucked. For the second straight year there were a bunch of missed games by a bunch of key guys. Top of the list is Clay Buchholz(notes). Stress fractures in your back do not sound fun, but the second guessing, phantom bullpen sessions and whispers about his actual readiness vs. perceived readiness soured the story beyond the injury. At a time when the Red Sox had all the starting depth of a petri dish a front line guy was shrouded in mystery.

Kevin Youkilis’(notes) season ended early after a sea of maladies that you have to wade through. One of the anchors in the lineup, dude has averaged only 119 GP over the last three years. Tack on season-ending injuries to Daisuke Matsuzaka(notes) and J.D. Drew(notes) plus a parade of missed games at all positions during that dark final month and you have a team that was significantly hurt by injuries for the second consecutive season. But every team in baseball has injuries and things have gotten so bad in Boston that even the owner has openly questioned the team’s conditioning methods.

On the field and off, some of your bigger free agent signings haven’t panned out. The aforementioned Lackey has become one of the most reviled members of a Boston sports franchise that I can remember. His numbers would make fans laugh if they weren’t already sobbing. He isn’t saved at all by his propensity for hideous scowling and yelling at his teammates. I hate to tell you I told you so, Theo. But I kind of did three years ago.
And Carl Crawford(notes). We were all rooting for you, man. Despite any asinine and revisionist comments Brian Cashman might make to the contrary, every team in baseball would have signed you if they’d had the resources. But you just didn’t really do much. One trip to the DL, a couple hot weeks here and there but a .694 OPS and a paltry 18 stolen bases (after averaging 50 for the prior 8 years) didn’t justify the hype or the cheddar.

The rotation was never stable. Jon Lester(notes), you threw a couple of stinkers down the stretch, Josh Beckett(notes) , you appeared to be losing parts on the field (I never even knew humans had mufflers until I saw yoursfall off going over a speedbump), and once Buchholz was gone you were relying on the likes of Tim “I AM SO SICK OF LOOKING AT YOU” Wakefield and the seemingly atrocious Kyle Weiland(notes). Oh, you also experimented with Erik Bedard(notes). Real big shocker how that turned out.

You were no doubt a team of flaws and serious structural issues that you somehow managed to keep from us for a good chunk of the summer. Maybe we were at fault for not seeing September coming. But I don’t know, even with all these problems who could? Even your heretofore good defense failed. I need to move on before I start crying. You’re supposed to be the ones in trouble.

Partners In Crime: Someone had to answer for this whole mess and it turned out to be Terry Francona. People seemed surprised that a guy who’d had that much success got bounced (whether it was mutual or not, he returns next year if you guys had pulled through) but it seemed pretty obvious from where I was sitting. After tanking that dramatically, shuffling around the hitting and pitching coaches wasn’t going to suffice. There needed to be real changes. Problem is most of you are too old to move, have too large a contract to move, or are too old and have too large a contract to move. Tito was the only movable part. So they greased up his bald head and sent him shooting out the birth canal of Yawkey Way.

Was it the right decision? I’m of the mindset that managers get too much credit for winning and too much blame for losing. But there’s no question that a bunch of the players in the Red Sox clubhouse pay no heed to their manager. Whether or not the next one can get them to change that is anyone’s guess, but in the long run I gotta think that Francona himself becomes the real beneficiary of this change. Farewell dude, you’re gonna make a lot more money than you would have eight years ago.

Something To Build On: Well, you did win 90 games and this is not a team going into a rebuilding year. Jon Lester is still your ace, Adrian Gonzalez(notes) looked great for huge chunks of the season, the catcher position looks to be in good shape after a couple years of post-sentient Jason Varitek(notes) doubt, Jacoby Ellsbury(notes) has turned into Carl Yastrzemski with legs, and despite one, um, pretty major exception Papelbon had a solid year at closer. Don’t expect the forthcoming managerial hire to shake anything up. The Red Sox will hire a guy that listens to the front office and the front office is listening to stats. Do that, former bench coach for whoever, and you’ll get a nice little pay check. Not bad work if you can get it.

Shape Up Or Ship Out: Sunny Listen, DON’T GO 7-19 FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS OF NEXT SEASON AND YOU WON’T BE BACK HERE IN DETENTION. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE.

Principal Liakos
@K_Liakos

Read more of Big League Stew’s Detention Lecture series here

Related: Kyle Weiland, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Adrián González, Kevin Youkilis, John Lackey, Erik Bedard, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Jason Varitek, J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox, Detention Lecture

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Could Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein be the next vital member of the organization to leave? Possibly, according to reports.

There’s a lot of speculation coming out of Boston that Epstein might leave after 10 years with the organization and head to the Chicago Cubs as that organization’s general manager.

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