Hello,
The Red Sox started today with a 58-61 record. They are 4th place in the AL East, 12.5 games behind the hated Yankees. They are 6.5 games out in the AL Wildcard. According to ESPN they have a 6.7% chance of making the playoffs. That figure sound optimistic to me. They have only won 4 of their last 10 games and probably have to go about 32-12 to possibly make the playoffs. The Red Sox have been an underachieving organization as a whole, but the one deserving most of the blame has been Bobby Valentine.
And to rub salt into the Red Sox wounds, Boston is going to New York for a three game series. You don't think the Yankees, their fans and the New York media aren't going to take every chance to step on the Red Sox? If not you are crazy. Also two of three games will be on national TV, including ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. This could be the nadir of the Red Sox already tumultuous season. Of course the last time Boston played three games in New York they were able to win 2 of them. So who knows?
As the Cowboys are about to start on another mediocre season, the Red Sox are finishing up their latest mediocre season. The Red Sox are a better run team than the Cowboys, but even they've had some major stumbles. This season's stumbles started with the unceremonious ripping of and exiting of dual World Series winning manager Terry Francona. The same man who led the Red Sox to two World Series victories, after not winning a World Series since 1918. Let that sink in: the Red Sox could have brought a two time World Series winner back, but didn't. Francona seems to be happy in the ESPN announcers booth.
The next mistake the Red Sox made? They signed Bobby Valentine to a two year contract. It has been anything but Valentine's Day around the Red Sox this year. From his highly defensive personality to his ripping Kevin Youkilis, he has been a complete disaster.
Now I'm loving how bad Red Sox management is stumbling. They are issuing non-denial denials about Valentine's job status. Larry Luchino said that Valentine will survive this season. What I love most about that is what he didn't say. Lucchino didn't say that Valentine wouldn't be back for a second year. In other words Valentine is gone at the end of this season. Typically this is what happens: The Red Sox will announce that they are evaluating all their options at the end of the regular season. Then when the playoffs are in full swing, the Red Sox will try to announce as quietly as possible that Valentine won't be returning for a second season.
Also: "Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in New York in late July, saying only that Yahoo! Sports’ report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted “exaggerated and inaccurate.” He also said he shared owner John Henry’s disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports."
I love this quote, yet another non-denial denial. Lucchino is deflecting about what really happened at this meeting. He doesn't deny that the players were calling for Valentine to be fired. But if that wasn't the reason, hen what did the players want the meeting for? Obviously the Red Sox players weren't there to try and get a raise for Valentine. Then again Lucchino deflects when he says that Henry was disappointed about people leaking the details to Yahoo! Sports. In other words they admit there was a meeting, but they talk about anything else but what the meeting was actually about.
Obviously Boston's only problem isn't Valentine, although he does deserve a lot of the blame. The Red Sox just don't seem to have a lot of chemistry of the team. The culture of their baseball team seems to be mildly poisonous. Indeed ESPN's Buster Olney is now saying that free agents may not consider playing for the Red Sox next season. It seems the whole organization needs a major culture change. Start with Valentine, but some of the players need to move on. With the Red Sox it seems the sum of their players is more than the whole of the team. In other words the Red Sox need to build a true team and not just the best collection of players they can afford.
They need to learn how to evaluate starting pitchers better. They have had major problems with that. Such names as Lackey, Matsuzaka and even Beckett have made me wonder more than once what the hell they are doing in Boston?
themusicaddict
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