October 14, 2011

There is very little good news out of Yawkey Way recently.

A beloved manager, Terry Francona, didn't have his option picked up -- he was let go. And after Francona put all of the blame on himself, refusing to throw any players under the bus, his personal life was put on display and ripped apart. It’s important to note that very few connections have been made between Francona's personal life and his performance as the manger of the Boston Red Sox.

And now, Theo Epstein is cutting his losses and taking his talents to Chicago in an attempt to end another curse and cement his legacy as a first ballot hall-of-famer. His stock is highest now, though he has left behind a $161 million mess.

Now, it's come out that several of the Red Sox players, particularly their starting pitchers, were eating fried chicken, drinking beer and playing video games on off days, rather than being in the dugout; many were not showing up for optional batting practices or working out to stay in shape; and there was a complete lack of leadership among the players.

This is the type of story that absolutely crushes the Red Sox fan. Yes, Red Sox fans are boisterous and obnoxious, melodramatic and viscous. But what hurts the fan the most is that several players were getting complacent, that they didn't care.

Is all lost?

Well, it can't be. Next spring, the Boston Red Sox will field a team. But that team will look a lot different -- it needs to.

I'm a guy who is something of an optimist. Well, as much as one can be from New England. And in times of great adversity comes the greatest opportunity for triumph. In times like these, people who are creative and hard working come up with innovative ways to succeed.

So while it would be easy to feel distraught, self-pitying, and angry, I am excited. Because there is no way that the same team will take the field in the spring.

Ownership needs to regain trust

John Henry, and his team, in the ongoing and often misguided efforts of damage control, have come out looking sleazy and untrustworthy. It's become a trend; a player leaves Boston, and on his way out, has his character smeared across the canvass of the sports media like a piece of modern art.

If tomorrow, John Henry went on WEEI, and without naming names, claimed that mistakes were made, they needed to go a different direction with management, and that the Red Sox would work tirelessly in the off season to address the character and performance issues of the team, it would go a long way.

A sound bite that carried any shred of honesty would be well received by the public. It wouldn't fix all of the problems, but it's a start.

The next thing they need to do is hire a manger that will not only be the smart baseball move, but will get fans excited. Who would be better than Rays' bench coach Dave Martinez? The Rays have been the best managed team in the AL over the past several years, and Martinez would be a breath of fresh air.

He could help give Boston some much needed swagger.

Accountability of players

Jon Lester and Josh Beckett need to come forward and take responsibility for the collapse. If those two players perform nearly up to their season averages, the Red Sox are in the playoffs.

Just like with the owners, if Beckett and Lester just owned up to what was going on, apologized, and promised to be ready to win come April of next year, it would go a long way.

It’s the moral of every after school special, the cover up and denial is way worse than the consequences if you are actually honest about what you did.

Own up to the fried chicken, gentlemen.

Create a core to build around

In the locker room, the Red Sox were a mess. Whether everything in the recent Globe article was true or not, there were obviously problems.

And with the dependency the Red Sox have on advanced metrics, it can be easy to forget about the intangibles of being on a team. But the Red Sox need to create a team identity and figure out which players are going to define what the mentality of Boston will be in 2012 and beyond.

Probably the best place to start would be the players who stepped up and performed in the month of September: Scutaro, Ellsbury, Papelbon and Pedroia.

Papelbon will be a free agent, and Scutaro has a team option. But it makes sense to bring them back. Scutaro shined while the rest of the team was falling apart, both on defense and at bat. Papelbon was at his best all season, really maturing into a pitcher who doesn’t only rely on an overpowering fastball, and the only reason he fell apart in the last game was that he had been overworked – and he hates to lose.

Ellsbury should be locked up to a long term deal -- even if it means overpaying a little for him. But he needs to be a stronger presence in the locker room. A long term deal would go a long way to repair the damage of a year ago when all of Red Sox Nation was questioning the commitment of Jacoby Ellsbury; they need to show trust in him.

Beyond that, there needs to be more faith shown in Carl Crawford; I could see how nervous he was all the way from Missouri. He looked so scared to drop a fly ball or strike out that every time he was involved in a play, it was a disproportionately tense moment.

Crawford underperformed, but he works his butt off and has a chip on his shoulder. Put him in the number two spot in the line-up, and keep him there even if he slumps for the first few weeks or month, and it will build his confidence both on and off the field.

He may never live up to his gigantic contract, but his overly competitive mentality is something that this team needs and they need to trust him.

The manager, whoever it is (fingers crossed for Dave Martinez), needs to sit these guys down and let them know what type of team this is going to be, going forward. Tell them that they are the heart of it, and if anyone is acting in a way that holds this team back, these core players need to step up and put a stop to it.

Cut the dead weight

The Red Sox will need to make some unpopular decisions to not bring back several fan favorite free agents.

Varitek and Wakefield are no brainers; but the time has come for Ortiz, as well – a move that might be easier to swallow after his recent comments of not wanting to be part of the Red Sox drama.

As a teammate, he no longer seemed like a unifying force; rather, he was more noticeable when arguing about scoring decisions or questioning Terry Francona's decisions to the media.

But from purely a baseball sense, he doesn't make sense on this team any more. He's a left handed bat on a team full of left handed bats. And he clogs the line-up by being unable to play any position other than DH.

The Red Sox have a perfect DH on the team already: Kevin Youkilis. He's a right handed bat, and even though he's proven he can't play in the field every day any more, he provides versatility. If the Red Sox are playing a tough lefty, he could spell Gonzalez at first base; he could also give the new third baseman a rest, as well. However, the lightened load of primarily being a DH would hopefully enable Youkilis to play an entire season, something he hasn’t done for several seasons.

And while I rarely will endorse the mentality of spend, spend, spend some more, it's time to flex the financial muscles by eating some contracts -- specifically John Lackey.

There is no way that Lackey can come back next season.

Make some bold moves

This is often confused with the need to make large financial investments. But that couldn't be further from what the Red Sox need to do this off season.

The easy thing would be to go out and try to pay big for another free agent, make a splash. The bold thing would be to cut some players loose, move some players around, and give some younger players the chance to shine.

Maybe move Scutaro over to third base and give Jose Iglesias a chance to play on the major league team -- fans love a young player getting a chance to shine; maybe move Daniel Bard into the starting rotation, as some have mentioned.

There need to be some decisions to get the buzz going in a positive direction. Everything so far has been either management leaving and getting their character assassinated on the way out, or finding out about players not caring about the one thing that every fan wants more than anything else: winning.

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You can follow Chris Covey on Twitter at @BostonC_Covey. He can also be reached for questions and comments via email at BostonCCovey@gmail.com.