Bob Lobel: Is This a Lost Season for the Red Sox?

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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Bob Lobel, GoLocalWorcester Sports Contributor

Just to give you an idea how crazy things can become, one of my very best friends and sources thinks Bobby Valentine should be named manager of the year! I can’t tell if that’s heresy, stupidity, man love gone horribly wrong or... true.

I did believe he would go down as the longest lame duck manager in baseball history, 162 games. Meaning, of course, he was doomed from the start. We can all make a case for that. But I also don't think he will go out quietly. That is, unless he is paid for silence.

That’s done all the time. The question has now become, when will he be out? I can tell you he will go when they find a qualified replacement, and that will be a challenge. Not impossible, but a challenge. And they will look for one, or I should say, they are looking now.

I do believe they will turn this around and do everything they can to not endure a year like this. It will be expensive, they have always paid their way out of problems, and now the painful expense will be to eat contracts by ridding themselves of bad signings. Read Beckett and probably Lackey, and maybe Crawford.

Ellsbury is a real possibility because of his agent, Scott Boras, and their minor league prospects.. This team can retool and I predict they will. It has been a painful year for one and all. Now, for all intents and purposes, this September will be one of prospect development instead of collapse and blame.

Then there is Roger. You know who, he might as well be pitching for the Worcester Tornadoes this weekend instead of the Sugar Land Skeeters. Good for him. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a ploy to defer his Hall of Fame ballot from next year to five years from now. He cares about the Hall but can’t control that. Many of the fans going to watch him pitch Saturday night likely don’t think he should go into the Hall, but they will pay good money to watch him all the same.

Well maybe that isn’t true in Texas where the Skeeters meet Bridgeport Saturday, but quite likely in Bridgeport or Worcester if the game were there. Clemens evokes lots of passion and opinions that range from “greatest ever” to poster boy for lying about performance enhancing drugs. Like the Chicago Black Sox, he was acquitted in a court of law.

Unlike Chicago, the commissioner didn’t ban him. The only third rail in baseball is gambling. Even the Melky Way (Melky Cabrera) won't be punished beyond the 50 games. Hopefully, all the angst of the Red Sox season has worn everyone out. A lesson has been learned.

We are no longer immune to this, no matter how much money is spent. Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it! Were we guilty of that? You bet! And speaking of “bet” here come, the Patriots right on schedule. There is only one thing that can derail another “greatest team ever” coming out of Foxboro. I think we all know that number 12 has to be there at the end. 

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