A Rare Red Sox Post






I can not believe I'm actually doing this. It's been nearly half a year since I decided to start writing about the Bruins full time here on The Buzz, but with each and every Red Sox game I am becoming increasingly frustrated and I feel the need to tell you people what's really going on.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 2012 Boston Red Sox. They're not the same team as last year because they fired a bunch of medical staff and the strength coach, got a new pitching coach, manager, and GM, and they added a couple of mediocre guys to to lineup! Oh wait...

The Red Sox, for a lack of a better word, downright blow this year. The suck really badly. A team that has a payroll hanging out around $200M with nearly 1/4 of it on the disabled list can't be expected to go out and tear it up, but this team should. They have the talent. Or so I thought.

The team is 17-20 thus far, and the year has been plagued by brutal pitching, inability to come up big in clutch situations (I'm looking at you Adrian Gonzalez. How the hell do you go 0-8 and go down on three pitches to the frigging DH?), inability to score runs, and a manager who seems to be just a step behind the game.

Josh Beckett. My good Lord, where the hell do I begin with this guy? Beckett, otherwise known as the "Texas Tough Guy", a nickname given to him by CSN's Mike Felger seemingly out of disrespect (well deserved disrespect) is giving me more and more reasons to despise him. First off, he needs his own personal catcher. Are you kidding me? Since he came here in the 2006 trade that also brought the great Mike Lowell and Alex Gonzalez to Boston, he's pitched to whoever he wanted to pitch to. For a while, there was no question it was going to be Jason Varitek as he was the starting catcher. Then Tek broke down, and the team made a move and brought in Victor Martinez to take over as the starting catcher, but Beckett refused to pitch to Martinez, so Varitek was put in the lineup every time Beckett was set to take the mound. Now that Varitek has retired, you'd think he'd have to pitch to Jarrod Saltalamacchia, but nope. The Sox brought in Kelly Shoppach to back up Salty and also be Beckett's personal catcher. In other words, Beckett needs his binky to pitch. Hey Josh, how about your manager puts out whoever he feels gives the team the best chance to win, suck it the hell up, and frigging pitch. It's not that big of a deal. Second, the guy can never go a month without being "hurt" in some way, shape, or form. Blisters, lats, quads, hammies, stiff neck, sore back, sore toe, you name it, Beckett's used it as an excuse to not start. Seriously, how about you go a month without missing a start? And then we go back to last year and the whole fried chicken and beer debacle. Has anyone heard Beckett take any accountability at all for that? 'Cause it seems to me he doesn't care at all. Oh and don't forget that he was too hurt to start, but a few days before he was out playing golf with Buchholz! Unbelievable. And what does the "Texas Tough Guy" have to say about that? "What I do on my off day is my own business." Of course ownership, the front office, and Bobby V all come out and say they just told him to take the start off. That's a load of shit. "But Mitch, they had to bring up Aaron Cook, he was out of options and they needed to sit someone." Get real, why would you sit your best pitcher for some AAAA scrub who was picked up off the scrap heap?

The culture of this team is awful. the players are far too entitled 'cause they won two World Series titles in 4 years. The last one was in 2007. I haven't seen them go any further than the ALDS since 2008. And the worst part is the owners let this happen and they give them entitlement. Last season, the players were upset for some reason or another. You'd think the owners would tell them to suck it the hell up and play, but instead they take them out on a yacht and give them headphones! That's the biggest problem, there is no accountability there, and the owners let them do whatever they want. And if someone dares say something bad about a player you better watch out, they'll come down and silence you and make you backtrack until you look like an idiot.

Also, it's still very clear that there's a rift in the clubhouse. It's been reported on many occasions that the pitchers and positional players don't speak to each other, and unless this changes there's going to be problems down the line that will ultimately be a part of their downfall. Teammates need to talk to each other, doesn't matter if they like each other or not. They're on the same team and ultimately have the same goal in mind. This type of bullshit can't happen.

And Bobby V looks like he's lost touch with the game. Granted, the front office did neuter him and decided not to allow him to manage the way he wanted to manage, but when you're leaving your pitchers in far past their pitch count, there's something wrong. Part of that falls onto the guys in baseball operations for giving him a horrible bullpen, but at some point you have to at least show a little confidence in them. and when he calls guys out, he doesn't even try to stand up for himself, he rolls over and backtracks and apologizes. Dude, if you're going to call out a player, stand by your words!

What I really want to see and think they should do is get rid of the poison in the clubhouse. Beckett, Youkilis, etc. Throw in younger guys. See what you can get for Salty and Aviles, Byrd, and co. and call up the kids. I want the Sox to give me a reason to watch and be interested. I'd love to go to games to see how the young kids perform. Bring up Iglesias, Lavarnway, Ranaudo, Wilson, Hassan, Mortensen, Tazawa, and other young guys who may be able to help, cause these lazy, complacent, and entitled veterans aren't cutting it. But the team wouldn't do that. The pink hats would lose interest because the names they bring up aren't big time or famous names, they aren't sexy enough. And let's face it, it's all about satisfying the pink hats and fan girls.

This team is headed for a downward spiral late in the season once again. Maybe this time it'll be a wake up call to the owners, but I highly doubt it. Their heads are too far up their asses to realize there's a serious problem with this team.