I'm a big time Red Sox homer, and that is the primary reason I wanted to wait to post this blog. Red Sox fans are known to overreact about everything involving the Sox and I'm no different, so I can't lie this collapse upset me. While it upset me, watching them and times this season, I'm not surprised. For this post I'm going to break down the responsible parties and why they should be responsible.
Players
Not all of the players are the problem. First off Dustin Pedroia(pedey), is the lifeblood of this team. If everybody in the league had the heart he does, everybody would be better off. He gets there early, leaves late and works his butt off like he still has something to prove. Too many times you get guys that once they get their big deal, they don't care anymore, so it's refreshing to see a guy like him. Jonathan Papelbon(paps), really rebounded this year and proved, along with the terrible season of Daniel Bard, proved why the Sox need him next year. The catchers, tek and salty, improved as the year went on and Lavarnway looked like he could be a star in the future. Ellsbury deserves to be the mvp, or at the very least comeback player of the year. Last season he only played a few games in the season and critics, including myself questioned if he really cared, he showed he cared this season. Josh Beckett also had a nice rebound year, showing he's still the ace. Now the negatives, Adrian Gonzalez put up stellar numbers in the first half but looked like a completely different player in the second half. At times I really questioned if he wanted to be out there and he started to make excuses. Not sure what happened with Jon Lester, he really took a step back this year and he looked far too hittable and times. The biggest disappointment by far was Carl Crawford, he couldn't get his bat going this season and went from being a gold glover to maybe the 4th or 5th best outfielder on his own team. I think the pressure of playing in Boston got to him this year.
Terry Francona(Tito)
I think most people, myself included, have really enjoyed listening to him do the color for the ALCS on Fox, and I'm not surprised. Tito has a great personalty and really loves the game and he brings that to the booth. I really liked Tito and I'm really sad that he's gone from Boston, he brought us 2 titles, what's not to like? Boston's media market is one of the toughest and he was great at handling it. I believe he was fired, they said it was mutual, but I don't agree. They had to find someone to blame the fall on, and he was the easy target. He even said he felt that he didn't have the ownership's full support. It's not his fault the players wouldn't listen to him and some of his pitchers were more interested in drinking beer then supporting their teammates. They would rather film this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDKwpbkIpQ4 This isn't his doing, these are guys that need to learn to grow up. He doesn't need to be their babysitter. He can only use the players the GM gives him.
Theo Epstein
This is the man who needs to be held responsible. He put this team together, he's the one who failed to make the necessary moves. The Red Sox could tell at the trade deadline that they needed more starting pitching. Dice-K was already done for the year, Clay Buchholz didn't look like he was going to come back, so who does he trade for, Erik Bedard. I like Erik, but he's said over and over that he doesn't want to pitch in this type of market. It wasn't like they were Cleveland, having a nice season and not expecting to contend this year, this team was built to win the world series. I don't care if you need to trade star prospects, you go get that pitcher no matter what, worry about next year, next year. John Lackey got a joke of a contract, along with Dice-K and now we are stuck with them. The Sox don't need more hitters, they need pitching and Theo needs to realize that or he needs to go.
