Best Team Never

They say to never write anything in anger so if I wrote this last night it would be the most hate filled, venomous, sad, depressed, angry blog of all time. But don't worry there's still plenty of anger in here. So I barely slept last night and thought about the whole season and whose to blame for the collapse. So welcome to BJ Shea's morgue and lets examine the 2011 Red Sox body while its still fresh. I'll name of the biggest culprits of this disaster.


Theo Epstein- I'm a Theo apologist but its got to start at the top with this thing. There were holes to fill at the trade deadline and throughout the year that Theo didn't fill. Erik Bedard was a disaster, he couldn't even get INTO the 5th never mind get out of the 5th. Not picking up a good bat to pinch hit throughout the year was a mistake as evidenced by the fact we had to have Ryan Lavarnway hit in the top of the 9th with the bases loaded. Theo admitted this year at spring training that we don't have the pitching depth that we should and that one injury or pure ineffectiveness by anyone will doom this team. Well guess what Clay Buchholz got hurt, Dice K (remember him?) got hurt and John Lackey had the worst season of any pitcher in history. After we won in 2007 I thought we had the next baseball dynasty. We just needed to fill in a few holes here and there but Theo hasn't done that.

Terry Francona- With collapses like these there's always going to be a scape goat and in this case it will probably be Tito. I don't know what happened in that clubhouse and we will probably never will know. I don't know if the players started to tune him but hes been here for a long time. And when a manager or a coach has been around awhile players start to tune they guy out. Its not in Francona's nature to be the flip out type of guy like a Lou Piniella and his way has worked obviously but along the way he lost this teams focus. Guys running into outs that shouldn't be. Playing awful defense. They were among the league leaders in errors in September. Something happened along the way and its more on the players than Francona but the manager always is the fall guy.

The Players- The players of this team get the biggest slice of blame pie for this debacle of a season and month. This team had no heart whatsoever. Do not blame injuries like Adrian Gonzalez did last night. When things got tough they got tight and almost pretty much gave up. The 2004 and 2007, two teams with great heart and mental toughness, would be ashamed. There are guys that have heart, like Pedroia, Ellsbury, Papi, Scutaro and Papelbon, but there was bigger factor here at work where it just snowballed. There were guys walked around with a sense of privilege that they didn't deserve.

John Lackey- Probably the most hated player ever. Whoever is running the ship next year, weather its Theo or someone else, has to find a way to get rid of this guy. He cant pitch here. He's just sensitive and thin skinned for this environment. The signing was a ultimate disaster. He has an excuse for everything. The numbers speak for them self. Highest ERA in the league. Highest WHIP in the league. Whatever you have to do to dump him you have to do it. Probably gonna have to eat more than half of the contract.

Carl Crawford- I was for the signing when it happened but in the back of my mind it never felt right. It always felt like a Yankee type signing. He was the best player on the market but he never seemed like a good fit. I don't think they thought about the fit here. It was the definition of round peg in the square hole. There was nowhere in the lineup for him to hit. They tried 3rd, 2nd, 6th, 7th and he didn't fit in any of those spots. This year was just a lost year for him. I don't think hes gonna be as bad next year as he was this year. of course I said the same thing after Lackey's first year and he somehow got worse. He looked scared this year. He had a glazed look on his face all year. Guy once played in a World Series! What is he scared about? That final play last night it was almost fitting how the ball got hit to him in that fashion. He has to catch that ball if hes a so called gold glove award winner. Ken Griffey Jr probably makes that play right now.

Jonathan Papelbon- There is a group of Red Sox fans out there (and you know who you are) that doesn't like Papelbon. Pap is the last guy I blame for what happened. Its too bad that he blew up at the worst possible time. This was probably Papelbon's best year. He was one of the few guys that showed up and took blame when it was necessary. If we let Pap go we are screwed. Bard isn't a closer. I mean look at his September. He was puddle on the mound. You have to bring Pap back.

Beckett and Lester- After being good to great all year and then exploding all of the themselves in September was the most troubling. Their supposed to be our two aces and they didn't have one big win during this collapse. An ace has to be a stopper and put the team on their back and come through when the team needs them most. Pedro did it. Schilling did it. These two didn't do it.

And that's just going through some of the carnage of this team. Everyone is to blame. A wasted great year by Jacoby Ellsbury who will probably be gone after 2013. I don't know whats going to happen to David Ortiz. Hes an icon here that can still hit. Personally I would like to see him come back but who knows. Changes will be made and heads will roll. My gut says that Francona wont return and that's a shame I don't know what free agents are out there to get but that's never been a success for us to go out and get high priced free agents.


With all that being, let me try to be an objective fan here and be a fan of baseball for a second. What a great, dramatic night of baseball last night. Congrats to Rays for being a true team and having heart (unlike the Red Sox) and coming through in the biggest stage. I'm sure there's young 10 and 12 year olds in Tampa in love with Evan Longoria in the same way I was in love with Nomar Garciaparra and thinking he could do anything. Nights like last night is why we watch sports.

Until next time...