I think we all expected that a tell-all about the 2011 Red Sox was coming, and I think we suspected that the Boston Globe – with their ties to Red Sox ownership – would be the outlet to provide it.

That article came today.

Inside the collapse – By Bob Hohler.

The article is being universally praised among media types this morning. (Well, Eric Wilbur doesn’t love it.) The article basically collects everything that has been previously reported about the team and puts it all into one place, with a few new details and revelations.

No one looks good in this article, and in some ways, that includes the Globe. Let’s look at the entities involved.

Players: The Red Sox players  deservedly take the most heat, especially the trio of John Lackey, Josh Beckett and disappointingly, Jon Lester. The story tells of their eating fried chicken and biscuits, drinking beer and playing video games while the Red Sox games were being played on the field. None of the three would comment on the story, and until they do, this issue is going to linger right through to spring training. Assuming of course that any or all of the three are still here. Other players are targeted as well. Kevin Youkilis is a grouch. David Ortiz whiner. The captain, Jason Varitek, chastised the Globe reporter when asked about the season. Adrian Gonzalez was not a leader in his first season with the team. Tim Wakefield was more interested in personal accomplishments than the team.

I don’t know how fair it would be to expect Gonzalez to come in and establish himself as a leader in a very established clubhouse in his first year with the team. Going forward, I expect him to prove himself in there, but for his first season, I’m not sure that’s fair. The only players to come out of this looking OK are really Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jonathan Papelbon. In my opinion, the team should build around those three plus Gonzalez and look at everyone else as expendable.

Manager: Terry Francona might come out the worst in this article, and that is unfortunate. I think there is an attempt to paint him in a sympathetic light, but the emphasis comes down on “pathetic.” There were rumors about Francona’s personal life swirling around various messageboards in the week following the season, and Hohler covers most of them here. The article portrays Francona as a “lame-duck manager, coping with personal issues, whose team partly tuned him out,’ and hints at a prescription drug problem for Francona. More on this later. In addition to losing power in the clubhouse and having his marriage fall apart, what’s the deal with mentioning the Francona was concerned about his son and son-in-law over in Afghanistan? What source contributed this, and with what motive? Is it a criticism that he was concerned? I don’t get it.

Francona though, is the only source (beyond Pedroia) that talked to Hohler on the record. If that isn’t a damnation of the entire Red Sox organization, I don’t know what is.

General Manager: Theo Epstein is only referenced in this article in the context of failed player acquisitions such as Carl Crawford. There is nothing about whether Epstein attempted to intervene as the season was slipping away or about his relationship with Francona and management. This is a little curious to me. It makes me think a couple of things 1) People didn’t want to talk about Theo given his uncertain future with the team, a comment either way could be personally damaging to the source should certain events happen, or 2) Larry Lucchino is at this moment huddled with Dan Shaughnessy working on the ultimate smear campaign against Theo, to be unleashed the second it is officially announced that Epstein is moving to the Cubs.

Ownership: These guys might come out the worst in the entire article, and not because that is the intent of Hohler. In fact, I think effort is made to deflect blame off ownership, but they do enough to make themselves look bad in this piece. A pair of paragraphs really stand out.

Sox owners soon suspected the team’s poor play was related to lingering resentment over the scheduling dispute, sources said. The owners responded by giving all the players $300 headphones and inviting them to enjoy a players-only night on principal owner John W. Henry’s yacht after they returned from a road trip Sept. 11.

Are they really saying here “Hey, we gave the millionaire ballplayers $300 headphones, what else are we supposed to do?” If the team was really exhausted and needing rest (and apparently partying too much) was a night party on the owner’s yacht a great idea?

Then there is this:

The owners also indicated in postseason remarks they were generally unaware of how deeply damaged the Sox had become until after the season. They denied being distracted by their expanding sports conglomerate – from the Sox and NESN to Roush Fenway Racing and the Liverpool Football Club – but they professed to have no knowledge about players drinking during games, among other issues.

Are they pleading ignorance here? The fish rots from the head down, and it certainly looks like ownership was less interested and involved in the product than they have been in years past. Did this send a message to the players, who sensed this and felt less accountability to themselves?

The Globe: Fair or not, I simply cannot read an article of this type from the Globe without wondering about the influence that ownership stake has in what is appearing on the pages of the paper. I’m also uncomfortable that just about everyone sourced in this article did so anonymously. What does that say about that organization?

I’m pissed at how Francona gets portrayed as basically a weak, powerless, pill-popping philanderer by nameless sources. Accurate or not, this just smacks of a smear campaign against a former employee on whom the organization is trying to heap as much blame as possible. So Francona, and now likely Epstein are both leaving of their own will. What does that say about the atmosphere over there? The portrayal of Francona can have career-impacting results, especially when he tries to get back into managing. You think the items raised in this article aren’t going to give prospective employers pause when they considered whether to hire him?

We may have the two World Series trophies now, but in so many ways, 2011 proved that these really are the same old Red Sox that we grew up with. Players change, managers change, ownership changes, reporters covering the team change, but it’s the same old Boston Red Sox.

Still, I suspect we haven’t heard the last of the 2011 Red Sox season. Just wait for the article that comes after the Epstein situation is fully resolved.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

54 thoughts on “Losers All Around In Globe Article”

  1. Nice analysis, Bruce. As long as the Sox and Globe are aligned there will always be questions as to how deep these smear jobs run.

    There is no question that Tito didn't have much control over the team, but the article fails to mention if this was the case in years past. How much did he have control in 2004 or 2007? Did he or did he turn it over to the players to manage themselves? How did his management style change this year (if at all). It just assumes that the knock on tito's inability to turn things around was due to his personal problems, but fails to tell the whole story. I thought alluding to Tito as a possible addict was uncalled for and sensationalist journalism at its worst.

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  2. Listening to SportsHub on the reaction, since this article is obviously driving the conversation and topics today, and they seem to indicate that there is gonna be a massive Theo smear after the news is official today.

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  3. Oh, it's already started, Bruce. We're now hearing, via various sources that "some in ownership" weren't sure about the Crawford signing. As Sean McAdam said on T&R this morning, that's not at all how it was presented at the time. At the time, the "insider" story had Theo calling Henry (who was in Liverpool working on completing the purchase of that team) early in the AM England time to get authorization to make the deal, with all parties agreeing on it. No story of any debate whatsoever.

    I'm going to just go ahead and assume that Theo has been popping pills for the last two years.

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  4. I'm disappointed enough at all this but more by John Lester's possible involvement. Here is a kid who looked death in the face 5 years ago and survived. At the time, Terry was like a "second father" to him during his diagnosis and treatment. You would think that he would know how important each day is and doing your best to fulfill your potential. I hope he feels some guilt at letting Francona down.

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  5. Bruce…great post! I was all set to take a shot at the Globe for publishing what Dr. Charles fed them but then I read Eric Wilbur's Boston.com piece. It seems to me that even the Globe knows that what the Sox management did by feeding this story to Holher was wrong.

    In the end its clear that this management team believes in burning bridges. Its like it is always a game to them and they have to win. Kind of like how they negotiate against themselves for contracts….in their mind it is all about winning. Francona was a pill popping, philandering, weak minded fool…we got rid of him…"winning".

    Theo was the one who pushed for Carl Crawford over management's concerns….wait till we find out about how he did not play well with larry Lucchino nor Ben Cherington…we dumped him on the Cubs and the Cubs had to give us 2 minor leaguers in return…"winning"

    Josh Beckett is a fried Chicken eatting, beer swilling, video game junkie…we traded him (after eatting $50 mill of his remaining contract)…"winning"

    Jon Lester…are we even sure he beat cancer…maybe it was the more treatable skin melanoma…he let himself get pudgy…he's 25…thank god we dumped him on a Nat West team and ate 90% of his salary…we are so "winning"

    David Ortiz was more interested in 1 RBI than he was in the team. After all the guy had a great bounce back year after really struggling the last 2. But he was no leader in teh club house. Not going to sign him. We can do much better than the most productive DH in the league…."winning".

    kevin Youklis is a whiny difficult, insolent teammate. Even though he did our dirty work for us on Jacoby Ellsbury last year…this year because he could not play through a ruptured sports hernia he needs to go…we will trade him for a bucket of balls…"winning".

    It goes on and on and on. I truly despise this ownership group. Henry, Warner, Lucchino (who last time I looked did not actually have an ownership stake). all of them are duplicitous pond scum. They feel entitled. The same entitlement they are now slamming their ex manager, gm and many current players for having. They are not interested in the fans or the passion of baseball. They are interested in entertainment. Here is an idea…let them buy the Dodgers and then maybe we can get an owner that actually cares about winning!

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  6. I recall a long article on Terry Francona in the Globe when he first arrived. I think Bob Ryan wrote it, and it was about how he had such serious complications from a knee operation and infection that his heart may have been effected and he was in the hospital’s intensive care for a week or so. That struck me during this season when he was taken the the hospital for chest “tightness” this year. So, I am sure Tito has been on meds for a long time. The circulating photo of him posing with his daughter (on T&R’s twitter avatar) doesn’t strike me as the body of someone who is a drug addict, though.

    I think it is Ok to point out that Tito’s son and future SIL are on active duty. This has been written about earlier this summer. I think the point was that it was just another real life issue that can distract some. Doesn’t mean it dstracted him, but is was on his mind. I think similar things have been written about JD Drew with his child having hip dysplaysia surgery (common enough surgery, but a major deal for caregivers since it is a cast from shoulder blades to knees), and Veritek’s divorce a few years back, and of course Lackey’s mess this year with his wife’s illness.

    I know that doesn’t mean that people are always devested to the point of uselessness by these life situations. But, most folks can get midly distracted by them and can occasionally say – I didn’t put in my best effort b/c of it.

    It does ring of an execute inside job though, with the annoymous sources and Globe/Red Sox ownership connection.

    Tito was pretty good broadcasting, so maybe he can take a year for that so this stink gets off him.

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    1. Bettyd–explain the body of a drug addict. Many pro athletes are hooked on pain meds (Brett Favre is a good example). You can't tell by appearance– I have a close friend who was hooked and you would never know by appearance. If he has a problem and this prompts him to get help, then good for Francona. It is disgusting that he has to go through this publicly.

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  8. It's amazing to me that very little, or none, of this came out in articles over the summer. You can bet your bottom dollar that if this had happened with the Patriots, the media would've been swarming over Gillette like vultures. Instead, you wonder how many of these baseball writers like to cozy up to the players and the organization since so little of this went mentioned during the season. I can't imagine they didn't know.

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    1. Doc…I have been making this point for years especially about the Globe. If Tito was truly a drug addict…don't you think that would be a reportable story? If the top 3 pitchers on the team stopped working out and instead were drinking, eating fried chicken and playing video games while their numbers and the team collapsed…wouldn't that be a story? Heck Bill Belichick gets lambasted because a camera is pointed at the Jets sideline and the guy pointing the camera was not wearing a lime green vest…and we heard about it for months. The double standard is nauseating.

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  9. I remember when Theo had a little holiday from the Sox awhile back and remember reading what an immature punk he was, until he re-joined them, then he was a groovy guy allover again. The earned the reputation of being the Sox Pravda and it's happening now. Peeing on Francona is just pathetic – the guy was the perfect manager for this team and this city and now Pravda (aka Lucchino) has to indoctrinate the faithful that we won't miss him all that much, you know because he suffers from physical and emotional pain.

    I'm observing this as one giant pig sty where no one comes out smelling like roses – except for maybe Francona. Thank goodness Kraft doesn't bend over for the Globe.

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    1. "the guy was the perfect manager for this team and this city"

      Then why the "Fran-COMA" nickname? Why did he lose control of his clubhouse?

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      1. How about this? Because its an easy nickname for the mentally challenged amateur managers in this region to come up with. See? You just change out one letter but the meaning becomes entirely different! See? HA!

        In fact, I first heard it about the time he was winning the first world championship in 86 years. I wouldn't hang your hat on a nickname Dakota coined, smart guy.

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        1. Oh, I'm not hanging my hat on anything. I think it's pretty insulting considering his 2 WS championships…but there is a large contingent of fans who have hated the guy since Day 1.

          I dunno, I'm kind of glad he's gone so those amateur managers won't have him to kick around anymore.

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          1. There are still those who claim the Sox won 2 WS championships in spite of the manager. Of course, there were also those who hoped the Bruins would lose in round 1 so Claude would get fired. How's that working out?

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        2. You can't do that by changing one letter Scott, if you could then I'd just call that guy oldstool138 and be done with it

          wait … what?

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  10. Young Lucchino worked as a lawyer for Edward Bennett Williams when Williams owned the Orioles. Williams and his pals in DC like Bradlee and Buchwald lived by a philosophy they called "contest living." Everything in life was measured as a win or a loss, and anything was permissable in pursuit of a "win." Lucchino has lived his life this way, has referred to "contest living," and seems to feel that he can't win unless someone else loses. I have no doubt he is the source behind this trash.

    It was Lucchino all along…

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  11. From overall media coverage of situation…NOT saying story shouldn't be covered but never heard the Sports yakkers sound so FIRED UP and EXCITED before. This kind of implosion is what they live for. Bet the football scribes are jealous of the baseball writers. MOST (not all) of the football guys would give their right arm to see Belichick and the Patriots implode like this. OH THE STORIES it would give them!……anyway, they'll be beating this horse for weeks and weeks to come. That's OK, Pats do their best work under the radar

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  12. Maz’ monologue and follow up in the first 20 minutes of today’s show was embarassing. He used an analogy of yelling at a 4 year old to explain how he feels about the Sox ownership and then went on to contradict himself on why the ownership would smear Francona at this point. Ugh, love Felger’s insights but having to wait through Maz’ warped, trying to hard tirades is tiresome.

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  13. Eddie Andelman must be pacing around his overpriced Back Bay condo like a rabid three – legged water buffalo, just craving for one more shift on radio to blast Henry and the rest of the "Caahh-Pet Baggahs!!!" It only took 10 years or so, but The Godfather of General Gau's Chicken has been proven right. If his buddy "Popcorn" Joe O'Donnell had been rewarded correctly for the high bid he submitted we'd be10 years into a state of the art cookie cutter stadium on the site of Suffolk Downs and Fenway Franks would be the same length as they were in 1999. JUMBALAYA!!!

    Let's not stop with Tito and Theo…We need new owners that realize the "TV Show" is really the nine guys on the diamond, not the clueless douchebags warbling Sweet Caroline, or half-drunken horn-dogs looking to get lucky on Sox Appeal.

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  14. This ownership is a fucking joke. How many people do they have to character assasinate while they strut around like the Italian Navy on shore leave?

    Luchino may have beaten cancer, but he cannot escape the gaping chasm of his humanity.

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  15. what a disgusting piece of journalism today in the globe…red sox management should be embarassed with themselves, bad mouthing tito through anonymous sources (lucchino)…tito brought 2 championships and handled the clubhouse with class for eight stinkin years…it's all about revenue and image in life these days, i hope the red sox realize the mistake they made letting tito go and holding onto at the moment a bunch of fat and dumb idiots in that clubhouse…truly pathetic

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    1. Excellent piece by Edes. I like how he mentioned that John Henry's own divorce in 2007 was apparently not a distraction for his outside business interests or for the Red Sox as they won the World Series. Ugly smear campaign so far and it's only going to get worse once Theo is gone. This team is looking more like the 2001 roster with all the problem children they had back then.

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  17. I just read Mike Giradi's piece on CSSNE
    http://www.csnne.com/10/12/11/Giardi-Sox-clubhous…

    And he makes an excellent point about the disloyalty of the Sox players.

    Francona took all sorts of grief in this town sticking with Ortiz through his slump a few years back and also when he was outed for being a steroid user. How does Ortiz pay him back…tuning him out then when the poo hits the fan…silence.

    Jon Lester goes through cancer and rehab. Francona patiently waits for him to return, stands by him through think and thin…how is he paid back…beer in the clubhouse and a complete disinterest in conditioning.

    John Lackey has arguably the worst season on record for a Red Sox pitcher and Francona stands by him, continues to pitch him, protects him…how is this loyalty returned?

    It goes on and on. I am not a Francona fan…I do not like managers that are not trying to win every game. But I hate…HATE players who feel entitled.

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  18. Typical hit piece on a guy leaving town. Gordon Edes had a great article about it today.

    This team (from the ownership on down to the players) is disgusting. As hard as they were to root for this season, somehow they've made it even harder.

    But whatever. It's hockey season now.

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  19. Great article, Bruce…no matter how much things may appear to have changed, they stay the same. In a way, I'm actually glad this stuff is getting published so that ownership can feel the backlash from the fan base they deserve. This is the most blatant CYA piece I've ever seen and it is almost insulting for them to think that this fan base will be blinded by the shock factor of its contents. Time for them to feel that anger and resentment from the fans like the good old days and hopefully it drives them to re-focus their priorities on winning, not their pathetic college game shows, bricks, soccer teams, whatever…

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  20. I loved the Tito smear. Really, I did.

    Marriage issues on the table?

    How about certain NESN employees who have "clubhouse access"? Lets get some dirt there.

    Or, how about new wives that are your daughter's age?

    Any takers for a Globe smear there?

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  22. And now it's apparently official that Theo is a Cub.

    It physically pains me to say this: if you want to see how good ownership handles a locker room issue, look no further than the Jets. Their receivers complain to the coach about the OC's playcalling. That's fine — perfectly within bounds. Then Derrick Mason complains to the press about the OC's playcalling.

    Bam, a week later he's in Houston for a 7th round draft pick.

    THAT'S a team that has its coach's back.

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    1. Dave…I always like reading your opinion…but NEVER hold the JETS up as exemplary…the Jets suck. We hate them….even when they do something we respect.

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      1. Like I said, it physically pained me to have to say that….. I'm going to go punch a cut-out photo of Fireman Ed to feel better.

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        1. You can be forgiven…but don't let it happen again….sheesh what's next admiration for the Yankee's GM? 🙂

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    2. Hey…if Theo is a Cub does he get to take any of the $513 mill in bad contracts he has signed over the last 5 years with him? Kind of like when you leave a job and the last thing you do is steal the pens as you clean out your desk.

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  23. As I was driving home I was listening to F&M for a bit and Mazz made an excellent point that got me thinking about letting the Globe off earlier. He asked who could have known Francona went to see the doctor about pain pills. There was Francona…I doubt he told Hohler the story. There was the Dr…if he told then he violated all sorts of Hippa laws (if I am wrong Dave will correct me). ANd then who? No way a player knew. Why would Francona share that information with a player. So I am thinking the only people who could have known were Theo, Larry and the owners. Hohler's story only has 2 people on the record, Francona and Pedroia. So not only was it a hit piece, the Globe took the story and ran with no attributable sources. The journalistic ethics of that are so questionable that the piece might border on libel. Mazz's point which I agree with is if you are going to say something negative about an employee or a now ex employee…go on the record with it. If you are going to slant an outside the job behavior…divorce, drug use, worry about a son fighting a war…then come open about your own three marriages. The more I think about the Hohler piece the angrier I get.

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    1. Nope, you're not wrong — if a doctor disclosed that sort of medical info without the express consent of the patient, it would almost definitely violate the patient's privacy rights under HIPAA. So the source must be either (a) someone who isn't a doctor or a covered person, or (b) a really, really stupid doctor.

      A further note: I'm not 100% sure about this, but I don't think the team's training staff, who aren't licensed physicians or RNs, are subject to HIPAA. And they probably were in the know about Terry's health issues. So they're another possible source besides ownership. But that's about it, unless Terry had discussed all this with a player or some other person — and it sounds like he didn't.

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      1. I went to school for Athletic Training and they are held to HIPAA standards. I'm assuming this applies to S&C coaches and nurses as well.

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        1. Thanks for noting this. I'm not surprised that trainers/PTs would be held to the same standards; I just wasn't sure that they were. (Rule #1 in law: never assume that a law as drafted actually makes logical sense.)

          Also, for the record, I totally think this is coming straight from the top, via lower-level peons who can plausibly claim that they need anonymity or they'll lose their jobs.

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          1. I think you are right on as to where this is coming from. I don't think they are attempting to hide it. I just think it is cowardice to back stab like this. Be men…come out and say "we wanted a change because the team had a historic collapse. We thank Theo and Tito for all they have brought this organization". Leave it at that and move on.

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  24. By the way — when Ben Cherington is named GM within the next couple of days, he will be the second Amherst grad to be GM of the Sox.

    The first? Dan Duquette.

    Also, Amherst sucks.

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  25. Grantland has posted a good take on this from Jonah Keri and Chris Jones.
    http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_…

    The best quotes:

    From Keri —

    "But as far as this particular blown September lead goes, blaming it on players eating fried chicken or Francona having marital issues is incredibly facile and incomplete. The pitching staff got ravaged by injuries, as did Kevin Youkilis. Even if you ignore the depleted roster, the schedule got tougher, with lots of games against the Yankees, Rays and Rangers and fewer against, say, the AL Central (though yes, the Orioles did kick their butts, too). The Rays happened to dominate the head-to-head matchups, taking a big bite out of Boston's lead. They also caught a broader hot streak of their own at just the right time. Everything that could have gone wrong for the Red Sox went terribly, horribly wrong."

    From Jones —

    I recognize that I probably put too much stock in chemistry and not enough in biology and physics. But John Lackey has more friends in that clubhouse than Jacoby Ellsbury does. I don’t care which of the sciences you believe in: That’s a bad sign.

    Ouch.

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  26. Why do people insist on citing Lester's battle with cancer as evidence that he's a "good guy"? Having cancer and beating it does not make someone a saint. He's obviously a typical meat head athlete, with just as much indifference as the rest of his ilk.

    Also, I've said it for YEARS, but Tim Wakefield is completely selfish. It was proven this year with his inane quest for 200 wins (even though it took him a quarter century to do so) and him hanging on with this team probably 6-7 years too long.

    Other stuff like Varitek, Youkilis, and Papelbon all partying with their jailbait wives/girlfriends less than 24 hours after the choke. Need I say more?

    These people aren't your heroes.

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  27. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. This will be a doozy that will make Baghdad Bob weep in envy (if he was still with us,) Bruce has it right in the sights:

    Larry Lucchino is at this moment huddled with Dan Shaughnessy working on the ultimate smear campaign against Theo, to be unleashed the second it is officially announced that Epstein is moving to the Cubs.

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    1. Shaughnessy HATES this ownership group. Don't you remember the 2002-2004 constant refrain of "carpetbaggers" that only ended with the World Series win? He's not going to play ball with them at all.

      Larry the Axe will get his message out through some other means, like he did with this Francona smear.

      "There are a lot of articles in the Globe…."

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      1. I can't argue with you there old. I have to try and separate the baseball from the politics which can be difficult. Olberman still knows his baseball and he writes a very good blog for mlb.com

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  29. I'll read comments once I'm done ranting, but.

    First of all, I can't remember — did the Sox sell their ownership in the Globe? Do they still own some of the NYT? Because if they do still own some of the Globe, this is weaksauce beyond compare. It's employing their house organ as a method of character assasination. It is the ultimate weak, lilly livered, back-stabbing, faint-hearted attack on Terry Francona, and it's just uncalled for.

    Even IF they don't own the Globe anymore, it's pretty vicious and underhanded.

    Anyway. Hohler's fine, he's just using sources (even if they're nameless and faceless). The entire article is clearly designed (by said nameless sources) to a) publicly humiliate the Sox, and call them out and challenge them for next year, and b) make sure Francona pays for daring to say ownership didn't support him. Considering the amount of time Fracona otherwise spent not saying word one about anything at all, you'd think they'd lay off him, but /apparently/ one sentence is more important than any of the rest of it.

    I'm not sure how well public humiliation'll play with Beckett and co, but I guess we'll see.

    Meanwhile, I could care less what ownership wants me to think. They're too nakedly transparent for me to bother paying attention to.

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    1. You've got it reversed. The NYT Corp. (parent of the Globe) owns part of the Sox (I think it's around 11%?), not vice versa. They were trying to sell their interest, but I don't think any sale was ever concluded.

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  30. (OK, so I spent five paragraphs ranting about ownership. I guess that puts the lie to my final paragraph. Fine, so I hate them and their little dogs, too.)

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  31. Today's WEEI talking point memo: demonize those who demonize. I normally only flip to them in the morning but maybe this will resonate on each show.

    Could have something to do with Felger's rant around 3:50-4:15 yesterday that wound up involving a twitter war with Heidi, Fred Toucher and Haggs.

    D+C are attacking the "mindless media" (just say SportsHub, men) who say that this is all ownership. They're too smart to do it. And, you have John Dennis in his usual self screaming at callers who disagree. Wonder why you're down in the ratings boys? I love how all I need to see is that HUGE NESN LOGO on my TV to really figure out where this is coming from.

    Thankfully, Mike and Mike are spending some time on this and it's pretty clear that there is 0 conflict of interest with who puts food on their table.

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  32. Paul Perrillo of Patriots Football Weekly had the best line in this fiasco, "That was a great piece by Larry Lucchino errrr Bob Hohler". Hohler, should not be receiving praise for this piece. He comes across as string puppet who is being maneuvered by ownership. Ownership is conveniently the only ones left unscathed in this scorched earth story says everything. The fact that is not even hidden is damning to Hohler. Eric Wilbur's article deserves all kinds of praise. He takes ownership apart and he does it fairly. It is great.

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  33. It truly is amazing how an organization that worries so much about PR has no clue how to handle it. The belief that they need to throw gasoline on every person that leaves the organization is truly despicable. It is an organization that has no self-awareness at all. Terry Francona goes off script during a press conference that should never had been needed and the organization feels the need to crucify him by taking apart his personal life. The accusation of drug abuse, which has no substantiation, borders on libel. By the way, Michael Felger believes it's true. He has nothing to base it on, but he thinks it's true. I know this is going to sound mean but I cannot wait for Glenn Ordway's departure. Maybe the 2-6 time slot will not become such an abyss.

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