Theo, you owe Sox Nation an apology. When the team started slipping after the 07 Series, you should have seen something bad coming. Maybe you didn't want to see.
In a Kevin Paul Dupont piece concerning Ben Cherington, Epstein, now saftely ensconced in Chicago. is effusive in his praise of his successor. Some of the quotes make Ben sound like the greatest GM in major league history, but his words ring hollow. In reality, Epstein, with some aid from the front office, all helped leave the organization in a mess for Cherington to clean up.
Many stories go around about the Sox slippage. which became a flood in the 2011 fold and a tsunami in the past season. Some of the stories, which are believable, say that things were okay as long as Terry Francona had the "cops" on the team to keep players in line-men like Bill Mueller, Curt Schilling and Jason Varitek. Once those guys began to leave, discipline in the clubhouse apparently went with them.. Fans and writers didn't seem to worry in 09, when the Divisional Series resulted in a 3-0 sweep by the Angels, including a meltdown by Jonathan Papelbon in game 3. Their failure to make the playoffs in 2010 was attributed to injuries. Since the Sox were winning close to 90 games a year, things seemed okay.
It is inconceivable that the ownershiip and front office did not see tha atmosphere changing. But instead of-at the very least- hiring some take-charge coaches to help Tito out- they tried to solve the problem by throwing huge contracts at players like John Lackey, Adrian Gonzales and Carl Crawford.
Why did Papelbon and Adrian Beltre, to name a couple, apparently sign elsewhere without even considering staying? Players know about how the atmosphere in different clubhouses is; the person who early last season described the place as "toxic" was right on .Also, did the front office think that an aging Kevin Youkilis and injury-prone Andrew Bailey would take Beltre and Papelbon's spots with no problem? The Townies may have reached the point that in spite of the millions offered, free agents will think twice about signing here? There are many holes to fill.
Cherington, who I have criticized in the past, seems to realize the situation. "I know we've got a lot of work to do," he told Dupont. "and I know we'll be really good in time. I don't exactly know what that time means." Let's hope that Ben saw his predecessor's mistakes and will learn from them.
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