Inside the Red Sox meltdown

Here's the part of this whole charade that I keep thinking about: Because of this story in The Globe, the future of Terry Francona could be in doubt. Potential employers could say, "Well, he seemed to be the right candidate, but the painkillers episode scared us off."

And while I'm no legal expert, I assume that Francona could then hire a lawyer and file a lawsuit, claiming slander or defamation of character. If it went to court, Bob Holer would have to give up his sources, and no good journalist does that, and thus, could face jail time. Sure it's a long shot and doubtful to happen, but it's a possibility.

Was this story worth it? I guess it was because everyone under the sun is still talking about it days later, and it has the momentum to carry deep into next week.

 

Schilling said in a radio interview Farrell's departure played a big role. Said he talked to Farrell and Farrell claimed he might not have been able to stop it from happening, but he would have resorted to fistfights in an attempt to stop it.

http://deadspin.com/5849956/

 

The British perspective:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/oct/12/liverpool-boston-red-sox-henry

 

Yeah - Farrell leaving couldn't have helped matters that much. But it's not like Beckett and Lackey were aces in 2010 either.

I still think the Red Sox have not just a conditioning issue though, but a medical staff issue. I don't think the Conditioning Finger of Blame has been pointed at Buccholz or Ellsbury yet, and both of them missed much, much more time than initially thought. Whether it's the team's management being dicks and not being realistic with injury timetables, or the medical staff actually effing up, it's clearly caused a negative perception among fans and possibly the players.

 

Buchholz didn't get 2% of the heat Ellsbury took.

 

Fred Wilpon doesn't get all the fuss.

 

Wilpon made the most damning comments about two players on the last years of their contracts. Henry made the comments about a guy who they're stuck with for six years, unless they eat half of his salary.

 

Wilpon's was far stupider; it potentially killed the Mets' chances of keeping one of the top 3-4 shortstops in the game for perhaps less than what another team would offer. Regardless of what Henry says, it'd be hard to imagine Crawford doing worse than he did this season.

 

Without my reading through all this, don't know if anyone posted this link to a John Henry radio interview. Pretty good stuff.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/14/felger-mazz-john-henry-invades-felger-and-massarotti/

 

You know it's bad when you have to put a spin on the spin you created.

 

Deft.

 

As if Reyes wouldn't use a team to drive up his price for the Mets. He probably doesn't care that Wilpon lost most of his coin to Madoff.

Now the Red Sox have a left fielder who they can't get rid of for 20 cents on the dollar, even if they wanted to. The owner threw Crawford, Theo and a good deal of the organization under the bus, too, so his comments did more than just piss off a star player.