The offseason work to be done on the Red Sox won't be a simple remodeling — it will be a complete reconstruction. A coat of paint won't hide the ugliness of the greatest collapse in baseball history. Instead, things need to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Before we can start thinking about a new-look team, the gutting out of the old structure needs to be finished. It started in the final day of September, with Terry Francona's exit, and it continues now with the imminent departure of Theo Epstein.
The existing team isn't coming down easily. There are pieces of ugliness flying everywhere. Wednesday's front-page piece by Bob Hohler in The Boston Globe was the latest bit to hit the fan, with unnamed sources saying Francona dealt with off-the-field problems that may have hindered him from managing the team.
Anyone around the team knows what a load of hooey that is. Francona may have been dealing with personal issues, but that's not why the Red Sox went 7-20 in September. This rests squarely on a group of players that grew fat (figuratively and literally) and lazy in the final weeks of the season.
The revelation that players were given expensive headphones and a day on a yacht only further cements the belief that this team had grown indolent. Francona's laid-back style as a player's manager was exactly what this team didn't need. As I've said since the final out of the final ugly game of the season, this team needed a swift kick in the pants. It's something Francona couldn't deliver, and something the next manager had better start handing out from Day 1 in Fort Myers.
If and when Ben Cherington becomes the new GM of the Sox, one of his first priorities will be to find a new field boss for this team. Now that we've learned about the pitching staff's penchant for beer, fried chicken and video games while games were in progress, it's more clear than ever that a stern disciplinarian is needed.
On Wednesday, Marlins manager Jack McKeon told the Palm Beach Post that Josh Beckett has long had a penchant for hanging around in the luxury of the clubhouse while his teammates were playing baseball. McKeon said he ultimately had to lock Beckett and Marlins teammate Brad Penny (later a Beckett teammate in Boston) out of the clubhouse during games.
Clearly, the carrot (or fried chicken or headphones) hasn't worked. The new manager will need to be someone who can use the proverbial stick a little more frequently. You want to play video games? You miss a start. You want headphones? Buy them yourself. The clubhouse, so aptly called a "spa" by Hall of Famer Jim Rice in the minutes following the final out of the season, has to turn back into a place of work.
I've said all along that Joe Torre would be the perfect man to start the reconstruction. He has the experience and the championship pedigree to demand the respect of his players. At one point, people thought he was too old to return to managing, but he's 10 years younger than McKeon, who was back in the dugout this season.
Torre has nothing left to prove, but his three disappointing seasons in L.A. might leave him wanting one more shot. We know he can handle a big market, and anyone who managed under the Battlin' McCourts can handle whatever circus might be under the Fenway Big Top.
If not Torre, the next manager must be willing to stand up to his millionaire superstars. Perhaps Royals bench coach John Gibbons is that man. As manager of the Blue Jays in 2006, he chased pitcher Ted Lilly into the tunnel after pulling him out of a game and reportedly started a physical altercation with his lefty. Earlier that season he challenged Shea Hillenbrand to a fight, something plenty of people in Boston wanted to do back in 2002.
We have heard names like Pete Mackanin and Dave Martinez as potential managers of this team. With all due respect to those fine baseball men, and our own DeMarlo Hale, this team needs to make a bolder move. If Cherington is making the call, bringing in a manager with a little fire would be a great first move for a new GM looking to regain control of his team, and the respect of his fan base.
