Much has been made in the last 24 hours about Bob Hohler’s front page story in yesterday’s Boston Globe entitled “Inside the Collapse of the Red Sox.” The Globe’s sports editor went on record saying that the paper sought to explain to Bostonians what really went wrong with the 2011 Red Sox. And while Hohler’s article certainly touches on many questionable behaviors throughout the Red Sox organization this past season, I think it’s time everyone takes a step back and swallows this article for what it is – an attempt to find a scapegoat. In other words, Hohler set out to point out the negatives – not to provide an accurate assessment of why things didn’t work out for the Sox. And while Hohler spent plenty of time detailing “what went wrong,” I think he missed the point.
Case in point, the whole John Lackey, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett love fried chicken, beer, and video games ordeal. Frankly, Hohler has followed this Sox team far to closely to paint the picture that he did – one of a bunch on delinquents with no interest in the team. Thankfully two guys who you would expect to open their mouths did – David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia. It was Ortiz who came really came to the rescue, stating what’s obvious to anyone who spends much time around the Red Sox. “”We had that when we won the World Series in 2004,” Ortiz said. “We had that when we won the World Series in 2007. Beer in the clubhouse, it’s always been there. Video games, that’s always been there; guys eating fried chicken, that’s always been there.”
Frankly, few people would know this better than Bob Hohler, which leaves me scratching my head. Why is he trying to make this the issue? I am a big fan of the Globe’s sports section, and was surprised to see this take from one of their own usually knowledgeable writers. I personally work in an office that encourages beer, friend chicken, and ping-pong - and I can tell you that it’s not an issue – in fact, it likely improves job performance among most employees. The issue is not these freedoms, it’s when they’re taken for granted. Look in the majority of the clubhouses in major league baseball and I bet you find plenty of beer and video games. So what was the real issue? David Ortiz sums it up as exactly as I have all along. “I don’t know why people want to blame (Francona) for all of this,” Ortiz said. “He can tell us what to do. But he is not the one who has to go out there and perform.” Bingo. Dustin Pedroia agrees – “We had the best record in baseball up until September and then we ran out of gas,” Pedroia said. “We didn’t play well in the end. That doesn’t have anything to do with Tito or Theo or any players or what went on in the clubhouse. The leadership was there. We had guys that cared. We just didn’t play well in the end. That’s it.”
As for other issues raised in the article, the whole Terry Francona is addicted to pain medication and his marital problems distracted him sentiment is an incredible reach at best. Find me one person who has had 20+ knee surgeries that doesn’t take pain medication. Does it mean their addicted? No. Did Terry exhibit any questionable behavior? If he had, don’t you think that would have been wildly easy for the media to pick up on? Give me a break – this is smearing in every sense of the word. Where these rumors came from who knows, but I will say everybody has been far to quick to point their fingers at the Red Sox ownership and just assume that they leaked this. Come back to reality everybody – I’m sure Terry has issues with his marriage and his knee, just as anyone else may. But there is zero evidence that any of this is true, and God knows Terry Francona’s every move is under endless scrutiny.
The point is, while there are undoubtedly some clubhouse practices that could be spun as negative, the real issues are not the beer, the chicken, or incompetent leadership – it’s a group of players that weren’t as accountable as they should have been for their own performance and who ultimately didn’t rally together as a team.
So where does this leave us? Still with a team in need of a new manager, a new GM, and some clubhouse issues that need to be ironed out. But let’s not ride this wave of speculation and join the quest for an imaginary pill-addicted, wife-hating, fried chicken loving scapegoat. The Globe got it wrong this time – it’s not the beer or the video games’ fault. It’s the players that should be held accountable for their own inability to perform.
Worst of all, what got lost in the shuffle of this article is Theo Epstein’s departure. As opposed to Call of Duty and KFC, Theo’s time in Boston is well worth reflecting on.
Manager. GM get more credit than they deserve when they win, more blame than they deserve when they lose. Big collapse — Manager’s head. Great big collapse – GM’s head.
There are so many games … Do you think they always had fried chicken and buscuits? Or did they sometimes get pizza or burgers? Wouldn’t they get tired of chicken and biscuits?
They would keep Theo if they could. Theo hates Lucchino. Lucchino hates Theo. Something had to give.
Send Lackey to the Cubs with him!
If Bob Hohler is looking for a scape goat who does he pick? He seems to take the entire organization to task.
He said he is going off of interviews by people in the organization, they seem to be making Tito the goat, dont blame the guy reporting the news, blame the guy(s) that make it.
If you dont think a professional athlete putting on 15 pounds DURING the season is an issue because you sitting at your desk can do the same thing then you are crazy. Just look at the results of Lester and Beckett as they put on this weight its all you really need to know.
If you want a current Otriz quote take a look at him saying he might not want to be part of all this drama.
As far as Francona and the drugs, it came from someone in the organziation. If it came from someone who is “not” ownership then that means the team doctor is running his mouth, I dont think a doctor would risk his job and liscense telling scouts and underlings what is going on. The owners heard from the doctor because that is his job, they may not have leaked it too the press but they told more people then they should have and that is disgraceful.
My point is that in this article Hohler is looking to report issues that were raised, not provide an accurate assessment of what went wrong. Any reporter could go into an organization looking to dig up some dirt and do so. Both Beckett and Lester had pretty damn good seasons, so I’m not sure weight was an issue with either of them. The whole Francona and drugs thing is absolutely absurd and it’s a huge jump to say it came from ownership. I’m sure every player in the organization knows he takes pain medication for his knee, this is not top secret information that only the doctors and the ownership know. I’m not sure why the doctor would be talking to the owners about Francona’s health in the first place. Last but not least, if you think Francona could have a drug problem kept under wraps in Boston then you are completely nuts. The man is in the spotlight 24/7.
In August and September Beckett averaged 5.9 innings a start, June and July 7 innings. Lester 5.7 September and June, June and July 6.5. Pitchers will break down as the year goes on but it is common sense to know that if you are in better shape you break down slower, are you really arguing that putting on 15 pounds during the season is a good thing?
If the team doctor diagnosis the manager with a drug problem the ownership would be told. You are making the point of higher ups knowing by saying if everyone knew in the organization, everyone would know. A select few knew about this and that select few talked to the press.
I think your reaching and no of course I don’t think putting on 15 pounds is a good thing. Does doctor-patient confidentiality not apply here? My point is that if Francona had anything resembling a problem with pain killers that affected his day to day duties, far more than a select few would know.
And my point in all of this is that Hohler’s article didn’t do what it set out to do – it was basically “I talked to all these people, here is their dirty laundry for you to look at.” It was not “this is why the whole thing went wrong.” If it had been that, I’m not sure the whole beer and video games thing have been mentioned. Because if he was trying to accurately assess the situation, he could use his “investigative” reporting skills to realize that this type of club house activity was also part of the culture that led to championships in 2004 and 2007. I don’t care about dirty laundry, I care about what went wrong. And David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia seem to have a much better grasp of that than Hohler does.
I really dont know what applies here, if a guy has a broken leg I dont think the doctor is not allowed to tell his coach or owner.
I am not the only one reaching here, it seems to be the general belief that the ownership was behind it. If it wasn’t them, and its not possible for the whole organization to know with out it coming out sooner who leaked it?
The reporter is looking to grab headlines. He did that. Ownership gains nothing by all this. Francona and Theo didn’t leak it. Could be a player with an axe to grind. Could be a long ignored trainer.
Agreed on all accounts.
When did you pull the pedrioa and ortiz quotes, have they been since this story came out, because ortiz today:
“There’s too much drama, man,” Ortiz told Dominguez in reference to the Red Sox. “There’s too much drama. I have been thinking about a lot of things. I don’t know if I want to be part of this drama for next year.”
and “It’s great from what I hear,” Ortiz said of the Yankees. “It’s a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn’t want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way?
“They lost just like we did, they just went to the first round of the playoffs. I ain’t heard nobody coming out killing everybody just because they lost.”
It’s part of the same interview, actually.
you are correct sir, imagine that large father in yankee stadium 81 games a year
It’s a possibility – what I fault ownership for the most is letting this all unravel in a way that’s going to piss off the players, like Ortiz. It’d be an understatement to say some of these guys are disenchanted at this point. A lot of the Red Sox had basically 100% allegiance to Terry and Theo. With them gone and the media smearing everything through the mud possible, there’s not much incentive to stay.
I know a really smart guy that wrote an article for the best blog on the internet relating to that.
This article was given to Holher by Red Sox ownership – interestingly Henry went on 98.5 for an hour and half the other day and denied giving out this info.
I think thats crap – and even if he didnt personally give out the info someone in his front office did. Since hes the top dog he should take the heat. This whole ordeal has been disgraceful and it falls fully on the Red Sox FO in my opinion
I think it falls on a lot of different people. Just putting the blame on the front office is taking the easy way out.