Red Sox Dysfunction!

Monday, October 03, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Welcome to “Red Sox Nation,” a new show that will be making its debut on NESN highlighting an organization more dysfunctional than the cast of the “Jersey Shore.”

Let’s start with Red Sox ownership – a group with about as much class and brains as Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.

It all started in mid September when NESN studio analyst and Red Sox shill Peter Gammons went on “The Dan Patrick Show” and said that there was a “disconnect” between manager Terry Francona and the front office.

This was the first sign that ownership was looking to make Francona the scapegoat for the team’s September swoon. Do you think that Gammons simply made this observation on his own? Or is it more likely that he was he fed this notion by Red Sox management? My bet is on the latter because this is what this ownership team does. Whether it’s people still with the organization or those who have recently departed, Red Sox management always seems to feel the need to crank up their PR machine and try to make themselves look good by smearing others.

Don’t believe me? Just ask Pedro Martinez, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez and now Terry Francona. They are all victims of the organization’s classless approach.

Believe what you want about this team’s September collapse, but Terry Francona was not the main reason for it. He should be receiving nothing but praise for what he accomplished here in 8 seasons. He is arguably the franchises most accomplished manager of all-time. Not that this matters to John Henry & Company. For them, it’s “what have you done for me lately?”

Maybe all we need to know about this Red Sox ownership group is in the 30-second “Red Sox For Life” commercial where pigeons drop their turds on all things Yankees. Apparently more concerned with getting a cheap laugh than anything else, they have run this ad on NESN for the past few months. Needless to say, I have had more than a few Yankee fans who think that it is a classless ad and I can see why they feel this way. Do you think that the Yankees would run an ad like that targeting the Red Sox and their fans on the YES network? Doubtful.

But back to Francona. Why must he take all of the heat for this team’s failure?

If, as we believe, that this was a dysfunctional clubhouse with pitchers drinking beer on off days during games and a lot of selfish players concerned more about themselves than the team, why isn’t Jason Varitek being questioned?

Varitek wears the “C” on his chest indicating that he is the team’s captain. We have been led to believe that he has been a great leader all these years. Did something change this year? Why didn’t he make an attempt to straighten out some of the problems in the clubhouse?

And Varitek isn’t the only one who is supposed to be a leader in the clubhouse. What about Dustin Pedroia? Why would he accept such divisive behavior?

We now hear that Red Sox ownership may let general manager Theo Epstein talk with the Chicago Cubs about becoming their GM. This, you could argue, would be justified. While Theo did help add some key pieces to two championship teams in 2004 and 2007, he has also wasted almost a half BILLION dollars of John Henry’s money on free agent busts.

Carl Crawford ($142 million), John Lackey ($82.5 million), JD Drew ($70 million), Diasuke Matsuzaka ($52 million in salary and $51.1 million posting fee), Julio Lugo ($36 million) and Edgar Renteria ($40 million) are just some of Theo’s colossal failures in free agency.

Welcome to circus that is the Boston Red Sox - where Red Sox fans continue to flock to Fenway in record numbers to pay $40 bucks for parking, $7.50 for a cup of soda and among the most expensive ticket prices in all of Major League Baseball.

P.T. Barnum was right. There is a sucker born every minute!