Red Sox Update:  Francona Rips

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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Scott Cordischi, GoLocal Sports Editor

My, how the times have changed? Actually, it’s more like, how have the roles changed?

A year ago, current Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was an analyst for ESPN publicly criticizing the likes of Carl Crawford for his open stance and Josh Beckett for his slow delivery. This, while Terry Francona managed the team.

Now, less than a year later, it is Francona who is spouting off about the Red Sox while Valentine deals with the fallout.

Francona went on ESPN radio’s “Mike & Mike” in the morning Monday where he openly questioned the wisdom of the no alcohol in the clubhouse policy established by the Red Sox over the weekend. Francona called it a “PR move” and added, “I think if a guy wants a beer, he can probably get one. You know, it’s kind of the old rule, if you’re coach in football says no hard liquor on the plane….I mean, you serve beer and wine….somebody’s going to sneak liquor on the plane.”

Francona thinks that cutting alcohol from the clubhouse cold turkey may not be the greatest idea. “If you furnish a little bit, it almost keeps it to a minimum.”

The former Sox’ skipper said he understands why the move was made. “I don’t think it’s a surprise they put this in effect, or the fact that they announced it,” he said. “It’s probably more of a PR move just because, you know, the Red Sox (took) such a beating at the end of the year.”

Valentine defended the club’s decision to ban alcohol and responded to Francona’s assertion that it was simply a PR move by saying, “remember, you’re getting paid over there (at ESPN) to say stuff. You’re getting paid over here for doing stuff.”

Valentine also pointed out that the Red Sox are one of 19 Major League teams to have banned alcohol in their clubhouse and used that to question Francona’s comments by saying that, “ those other 18 teams are be getting it wrong, too.”

Maybe the bigger question should be, why haven’t the Red Sox and every other Major League club banned booze from the clubhouse before now? Think of the liability issues involved if one of their players were to have a few drinks in the clubhouse, get in their car and get into an accident. The attorneys for the injured or deceased would certainly go after the player and his assets, but also the team which is worth a lot more than any individual.

It seems to be a tremendous risk teams are taking by allowing their players to drink in the clubhouse and you wonder if it will ever come back to bite them.

BECKETT IRATE!

-That chip we referred to on Josh Beckett’s shoulder this spring may, in fact, be a lot larger than we anticipated. The Sox’ starter took the time Monday to rip his critics to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford.

Beckett revealed to Bradford that his wife’s pregnancy last season was a big distraction to him and one that he should not have to defend.

“To ask a man to care more about a major league baseball game -- and I know it's a major league baseball game -- than he does about what's going on with his wife, who's due any minute. And I never want her to be an excuse. Yeah, I was distracted, but that's not her problem. That's on me. I would never trade that.”

"If somebody reads this or somebody thinks I'm wrong, they can go [expletive] themselves. That's the truth. That's what's important to me. I'm not saying baseball is not important. I could differentiate on the day I was pitching. I went out there and I was still as competitive. I'm not saying my mind was only focused on just this pitch because I did have other things on my mind. Whether you want to understand that or not, I don't care because I know who I am and what I'm trying to do.’’

Beckett also made it clear that he wasn’t happy with whoever leaked the beer and chicken story to the press along with the alleged smear campaign on Francona when details of his private life were revealed.

"Somebody made that stuff up, just like somebody made up that we were doing stuff … This is stupid," he said. "I don't understand what the big deal is. Somebody was trying to save their own ass, and it probably cost a lot of people their asses. The snitching [expletive], that's [expletive]. It's not good.

"There's two things with the clubhouse thing that I have a problem with: If I'm going to say something about the clubhouse, my name is going to be on it. The second thing is you never want to be remembered as that guy because that will follow wherever you go. It's just mind-boggling to me."

If you’re looking for any heartfelt apologies or a true mea culpa from Beckett, don’t hold your breath! He appears to be a bitter man at the moment. Let’s hope he can channel that anger into positive energy on the mound for the team this season.

NOTES:

-Beckett has been tabbed to pitch Boston’s first real exhibition game at the new JetBlue Park Sunday against the Minnesota Twins.

Boston has a “B” game against the Twins at their spring training ballpark Thursday where Alfredo Aceves and Daniel Bard will be the first two pitchers to take the mound for Boston.

Saturday, Jon Lester gets the start at JetBlue Park against Northeastern University while Felix Dubront draws the start Saturday against Boston College. Clay Buchholz starts against the Twins March 5th.

It may be a bit premature to read into what the order of the Red Sox rotation will look like come opening day. However, it appears that it could be Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Bard and Aceves.

 

Related Articles

• Red Sox Report: Big Papi Weighs In On Fried Chicken, Beer & Baseball
• Red Sox Report: Jenks Reports Harrowing Experience
• Red Sox Update:  Valentine Bans Beer and More
• Red Sox Update: Crawford and Much More
• Red Sox Update: “Lapse in Judgment” and More
• 2012 Red Sox Spring Training Preview

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