With the ugly ending of their season in September there has been a lot of speculation as to what will happen to our beloved baseball team after weathering such a public collapse. Red Sox Nation would love to know.
"I just know that playing in Boston, you're required to play your tail off every day to try to win ball games for this city," said Dustin Pedroia in an interview with the Boston Globe. "That's what hurt so much as a player, that we not only let each other down in the clubhouse but we let the city down."
Many people hold the Red Sox's team manager, Terry Francona, responsible for the collapse. There has been speculation as to whether or not he could control his team and himself. Some sources blame his marital problems, he and his wife of over 30 years recently separated, and others have alluded to him having a possible drug dependency on prescription pain killers.
"Maybe it was just time. It certainly hurt. Some things I felt like I was able to get done in the past, I wasn't able to quite get done in the past, I wasn't able to quite get that done this year, especially at the end. That bothered me, a lot," said Francona in an interview with WEEI sports radio.
Regardless of his personal problems, Francona failed to act this year. Whether he could not lead his team or did not, the collapse of the team looks bad for him. But this is a great opportunity for the Sox to bring in a new coaching staff and to rebuild.
Francona got a lot of heat for not being able to control his players during games. There have been reports that players were in the clubhouse drinking, eating fried food, and playing video games during their baseball game.
Three major violators of these actions were Josh Beckett, John Lackey, and Jon Lester. None of these actions are against any house rules, so technically they did not make any violations. However, they did violate a rule that anyone who has ever played on a team knows. Regardless of whether you are playing or not, you are cheering on your teammates. They need your help to win, because that is what being a team is.
To add insult to injury a huge member of the team and a figurehead for the organization, David Ortiz, has announced that he may not be returning next season. Ortiz made a statement about how he believes there is too much drama on the team and that he wants to go somewhere else, citing the Yankees as a possibility.
The irony of Ortiz's statement is that he is adding unnecessary drama to an already out of control situation. By him announcing to the baseball world that the Sox have too much drama, he is adding more. "Papi" is such an intricate part of the Sox organization that his announcement has repercussions regardless of whether he leaves or not.
The Red Sox have a great opportunity to build within their own organization and to start over. They made their name being the underdog team that everyone loved to root for, and they need to get back to their roots. They can bring up players from their lower level teams who care more about the name on the front of their jersey than the one on the back.
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