CHICAGO - Did he use the wrong salad fork? Did he inadvertently spit tobacco juice on John Henry’s wing tips, or tell everybody he hated “The Cosby Show’’? Perhaps he made some joke about Thurston Howell III, or maybe he said, “You know I always thought Theo Epstein should have gotten more credit for us winning the World Series in 2004.’’
All we know is that something went horribly wrong when Dale Sveum had lunch with Henry, Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino, and Ben Cherington in Milwaukee last November. The lunch was just a couple of blocks from the Pfister Hotel, where baseball folk from all 30 teams were plotting their futures. By the time Sveum finished his dessert at Ward’s House of Prime, he no doubt had a pretty good idea that he was not going to be the manager of the Boston Red Sox.
Comments
Sveum would be more of the same. The team needed a kick-start badly. I've noticed that what works best is replacing a"softie" with a tough manager, and vice-versa. Valentine has done a tremendous job with the bullpen, and he has made many bold plays on the field which worked . . . but he cannot pitch or hit. The players and the batting/pitching coaches are to blame for this mess, and it lookes like management's priorities are with the future. Wait 'till next year!
Did the Globe pay Shoggy for this non-article? He's like OJ still out looking for Nicole's killer. Shoggy's still trying to put together all the pieces of "what went terribly wrong over Red Sox Winter". Get over it, Shoggy.