Epstein blew it on the Crawford signing. In Tampa, he had a lot of assistance to be what he was. Once he decided to chase the big bucks he jumped into a pond he couldn't survive in. Now he is in a complacent environment where he can be mediocre, get paid and go home at the end of the day with no stress. Very professional. Gonzo has proven that "Gonzo" is a good name for him. And also content with a mediocre exestence in MLB. Beckett..well, even LA fans seem to be growing tired of his tired act. What these two have proven beyond a doubt is that the game of Baseball is all about them. In their minds anyway.....how pathetic.

Has Beckett declined comment when asked about Boston, or has he actually said "no comment" when presented an easy target? If the latter, kudos for that at least. As for Crawford, I agree. The fans here supported him well past their proverbial short-patience reputations. Like the brittle Ellsbury (a "lame duck" player now, bags already packed), Carl was forever the letterman here (letters = IR). And the fault for that lies where, Carl? I'd love to be "depressed" like that while cashing "toxic" paychecks (compliments of the fans and Fenway's anything-but-depressed ticket prices).

Gonzalez? I never warmed to the guy. Seemed his biggest hits came when it didn't matter, his biggest outs when it did. These not-so-artful-Dodger quotes are a sign of the times. Too many talented but pampered athletes grow up physically but remain entitled teenagers mentally. Wah wah wah. Me me me. Grow up, shut up, and play ball out west already.

These guys are the poster guys for a whole class of self-absorbed athletes. How about you guys doing what the other 99% of paid workers do? Once you start accepting paychecks from your employer, you are expected to earn them. You don't have to like your job---you just need to do it. You don't have to like your boss or your employer. The goal is still to render your services and be paid for those services. You have problems with your co-workers/ team mates? You have problems with your boss/ manager?  Guess what! That's true of almost every person working for a paycheck. And, unlike those workers who will be working until they are 66 years old or dead, you ingrate, grousing athletes will be strolling the golf courses and fishing holes on a daily basis by the time you hit your 40s. Suck it up, shut your faces and earn the inflated paychecks for which you have contracted. Smile and give your employers (and your fans) are a break!

Adrian Gonzalez reminds me so much of Alex Rodriquez. He'll always have good numbers, he'll never hit in the clutch, has zero leadership qualities and the only way he'll get a ring is if his teammates carry him to it.

Carl Crawford is a puss. He would have flamed out in NY or Philly also. World class wimp.    

Carl and Adrian who?

Two BIG slugs!  The Sox are better off without these two losers. The Dodgers will never win with them.

Front runners both of them.

Basically they are admitting they can't handle the pressure and want to blame their failures on other people.  That's what leaders do, right? These guys make Beckett and Manny look like class acts!

Could it be that whoever vetted these two guys didn't do a very good job. Can you really blame these guys for accepting the monsterous salaries they were offered. I have experienced some of this stuff in my own life. I was hired by a big company at very high salary and company car just because of my resume and great line of BS in my interviews. I took their money and the greater Boston sales territory. I was in far over my head and almost had a nervous breakdown because of it. I ended up trying to drink myself to death. Lets try to remember that these guys are just as human as anyone else. When your not ready emotionaly for the big time, you are not going to do very well. I blame the management for what happened in Boston last year.

Both guys should thrive in LA. No pressure. They couldn't hack the East Coast passion. Both were used to half-filled stadiums in Tampa and San Diego. In LA, 75% of the fans leave after the 5th and 6th innings regardless of score or game situation. Their batting averages will probably 50 points higher from the 5th inning on.

Don't remember ever seeing either of these guys bust it down to first on a ground ball.....pretty much sums it up if you ask me

Too bad we couldn't have kept these guys and traded the management and their subcontractor columnists from the Globe

Dan, Please do us all a favor and concentrate on this year's team. Crawford, Gonzalez, and Beckett are gone. We all know how bad the last season and a half has been, we get it. Beating a dead horse comes to mind. Let's hear about what the 2013 team is about.

Perhaps if Crawford and Gonzales actually, you know, HIT, and performed to their supposed All-Star abilities, the Sox would nver have tanked last year. When asked about their failure, Gonzales could only come up with "It's God's will." That's a leader? I don't think so. And Crawford always looked like a deer in the headlights. 

Players like this, guys who have only known success and been lauded since they could pick up a glove (and papmered and given every advantage), are not tough, or resiliant. They are whiny children who can't seem to get it done when the going gets hard.

As Tom Hanks says in A League of Their own..."It's supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great."

Sadly, a lesson they haven't yet, and probably never ill, learn.

Bye guys. We don't miss you.

The past is the past.  Move on.

i don't hate cc . while he didn't provide any value here he seemed to have bad luck with injuries. he was also doing a blog on espn.com and in his columns , he realized he wasn't the player we thought he would be and showed geniuine remorse. chalk that up as a bad move by both sides. ag on the other hand seemed to be the type of guy who felt better if he went 4 for 5 with a hr and some rbis, but the team lost 9-7, than if he went 0 for 4, and the team won 2-1. he might thrive in so. cal, good luck to him, but over here he is one of my most disliked players of all time and i have been following the team since 1964. if the two pitching prospects the redsox obtained in the deal fail, it is still a good trade for the sox. 

Agree with other posters about Theo and management bringing in players like this. Even though Boston is a tough market to play in they never seem to have taken a player's mental makeup into consideration. Guys who proved they could play in this market were routinely moved on from and replaced with those who couldn't. Poor management.

I think management suffered from thinking they were smarter than everyone else so even if they had a player that fit and performed they thought they could tweak it and do better. Way too much reliance on sabermetrics and Carmen, the computer everything had to be run through before a decision was made. The rest of baseball is enjoying seeing such smug, arrogant people have to face such diversity.

The good news is that Cherington seems to value player's makeup and is bringing in players with character, as well as skills. We'll see what happens. Hopefully we won't have to hear guys like Gonzalez blame acts of God for poor performance. 

The Dodgers are the sewer into which obnoxious ex-Red Sox flow. God, I hate that team. Used to love the Dodgers, but no more.

REDSOX   and CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES    FALL DOWN  NICELY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonzo was clutch. If you needed someone to ground into a double play, he came through.

Just like with Papi the other day, these guys didn't exactly walk into a room and announce they had something to say.  They were ASKED by the media, and they responded.  Instead of being asked baseball questions, they're asked provocative "soap opera" questions.  And that, my friends, is the sorry state of baseball, and some other sports, today.  The columnists compete to get that mouth-watering quote, and to get it out on digital media asap, to beat their rivals.  Sad to say, many, many fans eat the stuff up, too.  Hey, you don't want to hear what these players have to say?  Then don't ask them in the first place.

Now let's get back to analyzing the prospects and talents of the teams, please.