Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Tito: "It was my decision"

 

Terry Francona is now the former Red Sox manager.  A short time ago, Tito spoke at Fenway, and said this is what he wanted. 

"It was my decision. I don't know what I want to do. I know I want to stay in the game. This is all I've ever done, all I ever want to do," he said at a news conference at Fenway Park this evening.

"I think it's time for a new voice here," Francona said. "I think it's the right thing to do for the organization and itself."

But he didn't leave without some damning words. 

"I don't want to ever forget, a month ago, we were on pace to win about a hundred games," he said. "When things started to go, I wanted desperately for our guys to care about each other on the field, I think I've referenced that a few times. I wasn't seeing that as much as I wanted to, and I tried ... what I thought I tried to help make that better, the coaches also, just wasn't ever comfortable.

"You've heard me say ... about going in one direction and getting through challenges, and meeting them together. I just didn't think we were doing that, and that's my responsibility, to get them to do that, and it wasn't happening to my satisfaction."

This team has too many high-priced, huge ego guys around that don't care enough about playing together and winning.  I don't know who exactly the culprits may be, but we're going to start hearing about it soon.  When the outgoing manager drops a bomb like that, you can bet your ass people are working their sources to find out who the bad guys are.  

And once those names come out, they'd better get ready for a whole load of shit.  We don't take too kindly to huge egos blowing our chances at another parade.  The "run this guy out of town" machine will kick into high gear. 

Breaking: It's official, Tito is gone

via ESPN

Well, it is finally official, Terry Francona's reign as Red Sox manager is over. I hate the decision, but it's done. Everyone knew it would happen, we were just waiting for it to be official. The best manager in Sox history is gone...this sucks.

Who's next?

2012: The Lackey Odyssey

While the Boston Red Sox are surrounded by uncertainty right now, the one thing we know for sure (and this won't be very comforting to most of you) is that John Lackey is going to be in the Sox rotation next season.

There's no way around it.  He's not going to get cut, not with all the money still owed to him.  No GM is crazy enough to bring his 6+ ERA and his gigantic bag of antics to their squad -- regardless of how much money Henry is willing to eat in the deal.  He's ours. Next year and beyond.  The proverbial albatross around our necks.  Our punishment for trying a little too hard, and a little too successfully, to emulate the Yankees.

We could look back at his 2011 season (Spoiler Alert: He was God-Awful), but that won't do anybody any good.  It's time we turn the page and start looking ahead.

What I write next is going to shock you: I'm excited for the 2012  version of John Lackey.  I know, I know.  I've espoused nothing but Lackey hate all season long.  I've laughed at, and shared the "We should send Seal Team 6 to the Lackey Compound Next" jokes.  It doesn't get much more venomous than that. 

But the way I look at it, John Lackey's offseason can only go one of two ways.  With all the turmoil, anger and frustration in his life, he is either going to turn to baseball, whip his ass into shape and come to Spring Training with a laser-like focus.  Or, and I'm not sure which of these I'd rather have, he's going to spend the summer on his ass, drinking himself into oblivion every night and turn into a real-life Kenny Powers.  Let's face it, he's practically there now (follow this link and tell me you couldn't see Lackey saying every single one of those sentences).  It's not a stretch to see him making the full transition.

As a Red Sox fan, I want the former. During the Tito-Theo press conference, they both addressed Lackey and essentially stated that they would leave "no stone unturned" (read: mental and physical) to try to get Lackey back to the pitcher he was.  But he's got a few months before that happens.  A few months where he's going to be on his own, left to deal with all the personal drama that surely played a role in his awful, historically bad, 2011 season.

That might not be the worst thing for him.  Ideally, I see him settling his marriage and then renting a cabin in Siberia, getting away from everybody and everything, and reenacting the Rocky 4 training montage daily until he whips his ass into shape.  While that's obviously a little absurd, what he needs is to just get away from the media and his "fans" and just have some John-time. 

If he so chooses, and you have to think he has some baseball left in that arm, he could be THE comeback story of the 2012 season.  'John Lackey, pitching like a champ, leading the Red Sox back to the postseason' is a realistic storyline we could be looking at a year from now.

But to get there, he's going to have to be a little less Kenny Powers and a little more Rocky.  

Kevin Youkilis is a problem in the clubhouse?

Jackie MacMullan wrote a fantastic column detailing the chemistry issues that plagued the 2011 Red Sox. She cited the public whining about the schedule, the lack of a DH in interleague play and injuries. She also called out Kevin Youkilis:

Ellsbury is a 2007 alum and an MVP candidate, a magnificent player with the brightest future of them all. His teammates like and admire him, but he keeps to himself, confides only in Jed Lowrie.

Can you blame him? His teammate two or three lockers to his left continued, as recently as two months ago, to publicly question Ellsbury's decision to retreat to Arizona last summer for treatment for broken ribs. Kevin Youkilis has always been a hot button. On occasion, his intensity and his honesty were his biggest assets, but not this season. The injured Youkilis showed up every day the way he wanted Ellsbury to, but he turned so sour and cynical that his carping and insistence on inserting himself into other people's affairs turned him into a detriment.

I love Youk for his dirt-dog antics, but he is one of the biggest whiners on the team. Add in the fact that he bitches about other players... and now I'm starting to think he needs to go.

He's 32-years-old and not exactly Mr. Fitness. He's missed 100+ games over the past two seasons. Can we really expect his body to hold up at 3rd base? Or maybe the Sox have plans to slide him into the DH position.

Youk will be entering the final year of a 4-year, $40 million deal signed in 2009. Another team might see him as an affordable right-handed bat with a solid glove.

It's hard to predict what the Sox would want in return, because we don't know if ownership wants to blow up the team. I'm curious what Red Sox Nation thinks of moving Youk.

Breaking: No immediate plans for Tito

Via MLB.com, Theo just released a stament saying there will be no immediate action with Terry Francona. This might be a very dragged out situation, as it should be.

Everyone's backtracking on the "Tito is gone" stuff

Hold the phone

Terry Francona's meeting with the Red Sox has ended and, contrary to earlier indications, no decision apparently was made on his status as Red Sox manager.

Multiple sources indicated prior to the meeting that the sides had made a mutual decision to part ways. But now, indications are any decision won't be made for at least a day or two.

Great sources guys... keep up the great work. 

Maybe it was Tito saying he was gone behind the scenes... and the Sox ownership tried to keep him?  Or maybe Sox ownership wanted him gone and someone else convinced them to reconsider? 

Either way, the Tito obituaries were premature.  Stay tuned, folks

Report: Tito's Out

 

Terry Francona won two World Series titles with the Red Sox, compiling a 744-552 record in the process.  But after a 7-20 September that led to the greatest September collapse in baseball history, Tito and the Red Sox have parted ways. 

A major league source has confirmed that Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to part ways.

Francona is meeting with team ownership at 10 a.m. The team has two options on Francona's contract, for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, which it has chosen not to exercise. Francona, however, is also ready to move on, and is in agreement with the decision.

Francona will go down as the greatest manager in Sox history.  And while people have railed on him for not pubicly challenging his team enough, it's that level-headedness with the media and trust in established stars to work themselves out of funks that has earned him great respect within the clubhouse.

However, something beyond our crappy September led to this.  This is the most telling bit of news

The Daily News has been told by sources that Francona is out as Red Sox manager in a meeting this morning with team owner John Henry. The sources said that the decision to end the Sox' relationship with Francona was Henry's call, not general manager Theo Epstein's...:

It starts to add some perspective to why a respected manager of a major-market team that can simply buy its way out of trouble would agree to leave.  It's not to say meddling ownership is the only cause, but the signs point to that being part of it.  Whether the owners meddled in the day-to-day management or the signing of certain players... we don't know for sure yet.  But I get the feeling we're going to find out. 

And don't thing the players are blame-free.  That's the next shoe to drop in all of this.  

This collapse was as ugly as it gets.  A lot of people are going to want to wash this stink off of them as soon as they can... so get ready for an avalanche of "it wasn't my fault" stories. 

Meanwhile, Tito will hook on somewhere else.  People are talking about the White Sox.  Imagine the shit-storm around here if he leads the White Sox to a title. 

Stay tuned for updates as this meeting between Francona and the Sox continues.  

Your Morning Dump... Where the season of speculation is upon us

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

At the post-mortem press conference held Thursday at Fenway Park, it didn't take long for the topic of Terry Francona's job security to be broached.
  
"Obviously, it's a question you have to ask," acknowledged general manager Theo Epstein. "Tito and I spent some time talking today, just kind of catching up about the season and talking about what the next few days will look like. We're going to get together -- ownership, Larry (Lucchino CEO), I and Tito -- over the next few days and talk about the season and talk about the future.
  
"We're less than 24 hours removed from the end of the season, so we need some time to calm down, get objective and look at ourselves, look at 2011 and look ahead and make best decisions for everybody."
 
"I can't answer that question without saying that we've already talked about it -- John (Henry), Tom (Werner), Larry and I -- and nobody blames what happened in September on Tito. That would be totally irresponsible, totally shortsighted and wouldn't recognize everything that he means to the organization and to all our successes, including, at times, during 2011."

CSNNE - McAdam: Future for Francona may be up in air

While we were havnig our pity party yesterday, Scott came out as the voice of reason and made a case for why both Theo and Tito should remain with the Sox.  All other arguments aside, his first point, their track record of success, is the only one that really matters.

Terry Francona is the best Red Sox manager, if not ever, at least in our lifetimes.  Sure, it's possible we win in 04 and 07 with someone else at the helm -- you can play the hypothetical game all day long -- but the fact of the matter is that Tito lead us to those two Championships. No one else.

Francona has also lead us to the second most wins in all of baseball during his tenure.  Sure, not every move he's made has worked out.  We can second-guess him all day long, and often do.  But you don't win as often as he does if you're not an excellent manager.  People like to joke that he only "fills out the lineup card", but that's an insult to all he's done for this team and its fans.

The 2011 Red Sox collapse was embarrassing.  It's understandable that we want to see someone's head roll for it.  But to let Tito be the scapegoat is not only nearsighted, but foolish.  Take a look around the majors.  Take a good look.  See anyone else you'd rather have managing this team?  I don't.

Whether or not Terry wants to stick around and manage this team for another year, well, that's an entirely different conversation.

UDATE: As I'm writing this, word is coming out that the Sox will not pick up Tito's option and that he's "sick of the whole thing" anyway.  Can't say I blame him.  Check out the links below for more details.

On Page 2, this offseason should be interesting

Welcome to the club, young Red Sox fans

[stepping up to the podium]

Good evening.

I'd like to welcome some of you newbies to our club.  I see a lot of young faces out there... a lot of shock and anger... some confusion.  Before I start tonight's talk, I'd like to just reassure you that those feelings are normal.

I know some of you are, what... 18?  20?  I know a few of you are even in your mid-20's.  That means you were born in the mid-to-late 80's and, as much as this hurts me to say, early 1990's.  If that's you... please... hold all questions and comments until the end. 

Actually, don't talk at all. 

You see, even I, born in the... ugh... early 70's... don't feel comfortable preaching about this, but here I am.  You have just, by virtue of the Red Sox soiling themselves nightly throughout the month of September, been allowed access into our club.  It's called "being a Red Sox fan."

I know, I know, you thought Aaron bleepin' Boone got you in.  But all that did was reserve your spot in line.  And honestly, after 2004 and 2007, we weren't even sure we were going to let anyone else in for at least a couple of decades.  But the elders... well... the elders thought it was time.

The fact is, what you just witnessed was finally something on a par with what the rest of us have been subjected to for a long, looooong time.  Do you even recognize that picture? 

I do.

I was crying when I watched it on my parent's big Zenith TV encased in a wooden box.  Bill Buckner?  Blowing the 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 10th in Game 6 and then... THEN... having a 3-0 lead in Game 7 and blowing that too?  Bob Stanley's pass ball??  Calvin Schiraldi????

Excuse me... I need a tissue.

Ahem.

Theo lacks respect for some of his fat players

Some excerpts from Theo and Tito's press conference:

Epstein talked about the perceived lack of physical fitness within the organization. He admitted that is a problem in some aspects.

"I can't sit here and say those standards have been met across the board."

He then got into talking about the players in the clubhouse taking more responsibility.

"We need to be more accountable."

He also did have an interesting sentence within there as well. On the players in the clubhouse: "I have a ton of respect for almost of them."

Take that as you will.

Damn.

Tito was asked about his future in Boston. He politely declined to discuss.