BALTIMORE — The Red Sox owners have been accused of being disengaged and aloof, but on Thursday night they came to Camden Yards — the House that Larry Lucchino built — taking a detour after a few days of owners meetings in Denver. They were very much interested in the current state of the team and disappointed with the way things have gone.
John Henry, Tom Werner, and Lucchino did not plan on addressing the team, but they rolled up the sleeves on their white shirts to watch up close and personal the struggling Sox on the road. It seemed as though they wanted to show their critics that they do care, as they engaged with their employees during batting practice, around the cage, and in the dugout.
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This column is just so much drivel out of the mouths of the Red Sox propaganda machine. I've been very disappointed by the lousy reporting of the Globe beat writers, who evidently do no digging, and serve only as "spin" conduits from the Red Sox owners and mgt. Yesterday, the Globe played its part dignifying the pretense that there was no player mutiny in NYC. Nonsense. Adrian Gonzalez, prime mover in the mutiny, didn't deny the Yahoo reports and merely said this was all in the past and none of the Globe hack beat writers pressed him to explicitly confirm what he implicitly did by not denying the mutiny. The fact that many players did not attend the meeting, by itself, suggests Henry's denial that the meeting was a routine matter called by mgt. not the players, and not focused upon Valentine's fate is RUBBISH.
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Engaged? If it's about appearances and you watched last night's game, two images persist. John Henry spent most of his time lookng at his smartphone, apparently expecting points for attendance. The stands had many empty seats...that disease around the league could come back to Boston! It's multifactorial, but that batting order for instance is not a winner. It reads like a Pawtucket lineup while, through no fault of ownership, a swinging door has been installed at medical clinic. A $25 game watched in $250 dollar seats. Next year, could we just get back to baseball and skip the soap opera on the field (pitchers swearing when fielders err), off the field (The Bobby V saga), and in the stands (Singing Sweet Caroline and down 6 runs must go, fans need to show up before 4th inning). Maybe it's all commercial now, what with ads every inch of vertical Fenway, but the core remains good baseball...please.
When fans pan the present ownership they merely show they have no idea. Owners should own. That means they provide the money, set the tone and than get out of the way. General managers should manage. That means they provide the players for the manager to manage. They do this by trades, by creating and nurturing a strong farm system, and signing the right free agents for the right money. Managers take these players and get the most out of them. The complainers don't remember the incompetent owners of the past. Buddy Leroux, Heywood Sullivan [ who forgot to send Carlton Fisk a contract on time and so lost him.], yes and even the sainted Tom Yawkey who hired a succession of drinking buddies for general manager. These guys are the best this franchise has seen in our lifetime.
It's funny how now that ownership is being attacked on talk radio, particularly Lucchino who was skewered yesterday on Sports Hub, they decide to come out of the bunker. Reactionary management is not a good thing. The bottom line is that Larry has messed up this organization. He's president and should be held accountable for the failures of this team. While you lay blame at Theo's feet for the bad signings, it's been intimated that the reason for those signings was to "feed the monster" which, quite frankly, makes a lot of sense. Do you really think baseball ops would be that hot to get Carl Crawford? Even the casual baseball follower wondered how he fit this team. That aside, organizationally the team is a disaster. Larry's a brilliant businessman but he can't help himself with his lust for power. Henry pushed him out of baseball ops in 2005 but he steadily made his way back to the point where Theo bailed for good. Now he's got a first year GM under his control and a manager that he, not the GM, hired. There's no chain of command. Players go around the Manager and the GM right to ownership. The Yankees are consistently good and play to the level of their talent, in part, because of the organization which instills a winning mentality and a no nonsense approach. The Sox are a circus!
Larry, Bobby, and Nick. The Italian-American mutual admiration society. pathetic.