The Red Sox Thread

[parkerstrong]

"Out since July 17 with a strained Achilles’ tendon, David Ortiz wants to come back and play for the Red Sox as soon as possible. However, he made it clear Sunday that he’s thinking ahead to his upcoming free agency in deciding not to rush his return.

“If you go back and play sore, of course you could [tear it]. It’s not healed. It’s not ready and I don’t want to run that risk,” Ortiz told CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty. “I’m a free agent after this year and I don’t want to have a surgery going into free agency.”"

That's the spirit!

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...gency-looming/

This is Ortiz being passive-aggressive with the Red Sox front office about not getting a multi-year deal. This is not the first time he has complained about his contract this season and he is making a point here- playing on a 1-year deal you need to take care of yourself and a future contract before pushing for a playoff spot.

[b-ball-lunachick]

"Out since July 17 with a strained Achilles’ tendon, David Ortiz wants to come back and play for the Red Sox as soon as possible. However, he made it clear Sunday that he’s thinking ahead to his upcoming free agency in deciding not to rush his return.

“If you go back and play sore, of course you could [tear it]. It’s not healed. It’s not ready and I don’t want to run that risk,” Ortiz told CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty. “I’m a free agent after this year and I don’t want to have a surgery going into free agency.”"

That's the spirit!

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...gency-looming/

interesting...any other player comes out and says this and it's a huge amount of negative press...he'll squeak by without hardly a scratch...sickening.

[Mr Coffee]

"I am totally unappreciated in my time."

[False1]

"Out since July 17 with a strained Achilles’ tendon, David Ortiz wants to come back and play for the Red Sox as soon as possible. However, he made it clear Sunday that he’s thinking ahead to his upcoming free agency in deciding not to rush his return.

“If you go back and play sore, of course you could [tear it]. It’s not healed. It’s not ready and I don’t want to run that risk,” Ortiz told CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty. “I’m a free agent after this year and I don’t want to have a surgery going into free agency.”"

That's the spirit!

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...gency-looming/

It'd be awful naive to assume that this is an impractical point of view for Ortiz to have given all the circumstances, but why on earth would you say it? What, is the FO all of a sudden going to trip over themselves to offer you a new deal to rush you back into the DH spot this season because of these comments? The only possible outcome is that you look like a douche. Mission accomplished.

[b-ball-lunachick]

It'd be awful naive to assume that this is an impractical point of view for Ortiz to have given all the circumstances, but why on earth would you say it? What, is the FO all of a sudden going to trip over themselves to offer you a new deal to rush you back into the DH spot this season because of these comments? The only possible outcome is that you look like a douche. Mission accomplished.

That's exactly it...there's a balance there with being truthful quotes but there are some things that you just don't say...unless you don't mind sounding like a douche.

[ShaneTravis]

Meh, don't blame him. Why rush back for a going no where team that doesn't want you long term?

Take your time Poopsie.

[Snatch Catch]

It's a full scale mutiny/implosion, apparently.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bobby-v...gonzalez-.html

Boston Red Sox players blasted manager Bobby Valentine to owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino during a heated meeting called after a text message was sent by a group of frustrated players to the team and ownership in late July, three sources familiar with the meeting told Yahoo! Sports.

The owners called the meeting for Boston's off-day in New York on July 27 after first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, texting on behalf of himself and some teammates, aired their dissatisfaction with Valentine for embarrassing starting pitcher Jon Lester by leaving him in to allow 11 runs during a July 22 start. It was the latest incident in a season's worth of bad relations bubbling between Red Sox players and Valentine.

Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were among the most vocal in the meeting, in which some players stated flatly they no longer wanted to play for Valentine, the sources said. The tenor of the 2 p.m. meeting at The Palace hotel in New York turned ugly almost immediately, according to the sources, whom Yahoo! Sports granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about internal matters.

From the beginning of the Red Sox's courtship of Valentine this offseason to the double-barreled votes of confidence last week, the match of the hard-nosed Bobby V with the laissez-faire Boston clubhouse seemed tenuous at best. It has proven far worse, personified best perhaps by a picture circulating around via text message, according to a fourth source.

Pedroia, notorious among teammates for his wit and humor, is in the foreground with a giddy smile, his tongue wagging and both thumbs up. Next to him is allegedly Valentine, face down on a table, apparently asleep. A caption accompanies the picture: "Our manager contemplating his lineup at 3:30 p.m."

Certainly the concoction of losing and an unfamiliar style has hurt Valentine's standing with players. Ownership remains in Valentine's corner, with Henry saying in his statement eight days ago: "We have been nothing but supportive of him inside and outside the clubhouse."

The support, according to the sources, baffles those against Valentine, who wonder why the meeting was called if it wasn't going to change anything. During the meeting, the players told Henry and Lucchino that part of the disconnect comes from Valentine spending excessive time in his office.

[pjfan]

I'm not a huge Valentine fan by any means, but lets not forget that this team ate chicken, drank beer, and sucked at playing baseball at the end of last year too. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of what goes on inside a clubhouse, and how much liking or respecting your manager has to do with success.

I mean, Valentine is really not directly related to Lester and Beckett sucking, is he? Or Pedroia and Gonzalez having off years? Or Ortiz, Ellsbury, and Crawford being hurt? Valentine will be made the scapegoat here, for sure, but the players needs to take on some responsibility as well.

Nobody is happier than Kevin Youkilis right now.

[RenoHightower]

Management had a tenuous situation with a team that had grown complacent and arrogant, and hadn't had to take any responsibility because Tito Francona is an enabler who protects his players. When that stopped working, they replaced him with Valentine, and I can only assume they thought his brash management style would serve to jump start the team. However, it seems to have just alienated them. Given the fact that many of them are also playing poorly, his manner is really just making things worse. If Lester and Beckett were having good seasons, and Boston was in the playoff race, Valentine's nonsense would be credited with inspiring the team to perform with some degree of fire and passion.

In conclusion, winning begets chemistry. It's not the other way around.

[BxBomber44]

All is ugly on the Red Sox front.

[gregzzy22]

Why do I feel like if the Yankees were in an identical situation, we would never hear the end of it? Imagine reports came out about a secret meeting and a picture being texted amongst teammates of Derek Jeter ridiculing the manager? Would be breaking news all day on ESPN. At the very least those scumbags at BSPN are protecting their former employee.

[ajra21]

His question was on point, there's a huge difference between hand and wrist injuries.

The wrist bones are small and compacted in a very small place. The problem w/ healing is the blood supply to the injured wrist bones. The type of injury Al had commonly heals w/o further complications

Good points. But finger injuries heal far quicker than both hand and wrist injuries. That was my point.

As someone who has a permanently broken left hand, but has seen all eight fingers and two thumbs heal from multiple breaks with little or no issue, I know the difference.

[Mr Coffee]

As someone who has a permanently broken left hand, but has seen all eight fingers and two thumbs heal from multiple breaks with little or no issue, I know the difference.

I don't know if that qualifies you as some kind of expert.

If I crash my car a bunch of times do I automatically become a mechanic?

[ajra21]

I don't know if that qualifies you as some kind of expert.

If I crash my car a bunch of times do I automatically become a mechanic?

No, sadly. But I've listened to enough doctors discuss my injuries to know that most of the time, a broken finger heals quicker than the hand or wrist.

Now, also, I've crashed plenty of cars and I've learnt that when you hit metal really hard, perhaps with othe metal, it doesn't heal either.

[ajra21]

Red Sox are really making this as hard as possible for themselves.

While there are many, many differences between these two situations, I can't help but think back to Girardi's first year in charge when we missed out on the playoffs for the first time in a dozen years. People did criticise him and while we were out of the running for sometime, there wasn't the fall out we've seen from the 2012 Red Sox. The comparison is far from perfect, I know, but some small similarities can be made.

[YankeePride1967]

Bobby V isn't responsible for Lester and Beckett sucking. And it is hard taking the side of the "chicken and beer" brigade. But Bobby V is an idiot and the wrong person for the job. I said this the day he was hired and all he has done is prove me right. What a circus.

[snapple]

I don't know if that qualifies you as some kind of expert.

If I crash my car a bunch of times do I automatically become a mechanic?

As an insurance producer, I'd say you'd probably be uninsured, as well.

[ieddyi]

Their circus has gotten so bad, it's almost lost it's entertainment value.

Let's hope they get it together long enough to just miss the last playoff spot by one game

[just-blaze]

Their circus has gotten so bad, it's almost lost it's entertainment value.

Let's hope they get it together long enough to just miss the last playoff spot by one game

Im hoping they get it together to play the role of last years Orioles to this year's Orioles and Rays.

[Principessa21]

As an insurance producer, I'd say you'd probably be uninsured, as well.

Which is okay because say you drive drunk and kill someone, the victim's insurance company, say Progressive, will come to your defense so they don't have to pay too.

Anyway, I am loving this Red Sox drama. I just hope the best is yet to come.

[4bronxbombers]

Their circus has gotten so bad, it's almost lost it's entertainment value.

Let's hope they get it together long enough to just miss the last playoff spot by one game

That would be sweet.

[teknetic]

A Yahoo! Sports report claims that Red Sox stars, led by Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, had a heated meeting with Red Sox owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino to complain about manager Bobby Valentine. That meeting occurred at The Palace hotel in Manhattan on July 26 before Boston opened a three-game series against the Yankees, and was a preceded by an angry text message sent by Gonzalez representing the upset players.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/backpa...f3DtwGnGPL15wO

Jesus, was Gonzalez always this much of a tool or is this something that happens when one dons a Sox uniform?

[Vin]

Jesus, was Gonzalez always this much of a tool or is this something that happens when one dons a Sox uniform?

I definitely get that impression when they wear the uniform all of a sudden they turn into a tool.

And not just with A-Gon

[ieddyi]

Kay, during the game, said that 17 of the players asked that Valentine be fired

[ajra21]

This is all within 18 months of them being the greatest team of all time.

How the 'mighty' have fallen.