As The Dominos Fall

It was inevitable that I would eventually throw my two cents into the fountain with regards to the war-zone over at 4 Yawkey Way.

Let’s hop in Doc’s DeLorean DMC-12 and spin backwards about four months when Boston re-claimed the moniker “Title Town” following the Bruins’ game seven, 3-0, victory over the Canucks on June 15^th. The Hub of the Universe was back. Front and center of all the sports talk in the country after brushes with glory only to have it snatched away by the Giants (07), Lakers (10), Rays (08) and Angels (09).

Sox were clawing their way back from a 2-12 start to the season. Talks were reportedly “progressing” giving Pats fans hope they would be able to see #12 in the fall. The B’s looked like the big bad Bruin’s form the 1970s. Life was good then.

Now let’s flash forward back to the present day. We are still the talk of the sporting nation but for all the wrong reasons.

The Patriots were very un-Patriot-like in their last game against Buffalo, witnessing three things that almost never happen to a Patriots team. Not “finishing the game” as they are preached to do by their mastermind Bill Belichick, who we also saw “lose it” on the sideline. And Tom Terrific was not so terrific in the second half, throwing four interceptions for the first time since 2009 in a 38-34 loss in Indianapolis.

Fast-forward a few days when the Sox were in the end stages of destruction. We joke about “hitting the panic” button but this time there was no kidding around. They never threw the note back to Chief Quimby. In fact, the season ended the same way it began, dismal and embarrassing to everyone who shells out the money to go to the games.

If losing a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore while the Rays, simultaneously making their miraculous eighth inning comeback to force extra innings to claim the Wild Card wasn’t bad enough, then things were about to get worse.

There no if’s and’s or but’s about it. Terry Francona was not coming back for 2012. As Dan Shaughnessy wrote in today’s Boston Globe, “don’t buy spin, Tito was fired,” while that was partially the case it was nowhere near the whole story. Sure the Sox brass were not going to pick up his option for next season but Francona was not coming back even if the Sox found a way to muddle through the post-season and win the World Series despite a 7-20 month of September.

The best manager in the history of the franchise looked absolutely burnt.

You could see it after the game Wednesday night/Thursday morning and then in yesterday’s press conference. He was done and it was not the type of tired look after you just played a 162-game season. He was cooked and in a slow-cooker I might add.

During his eight years in Boston, Tito had the backs of all his players and protected them from unjust and unwarranted criticism yet some of those same players were unwilling fight for him. They completely disregarded any and everything he said (i.e. the team meeting in September), questioned moves he made (see David Ortiz) and thought they were above it all (see “starters drinking in the clubhouse”). It was the players yet it, who have a sense of entitlement and had been coddled since they were the best players on their Little League teams not Francona. And Tito was done. Who could blame him?

And the hits just keep on coming – if only they came in the month of September. Apparently Theo Epstein wants out after speculation came out that the Sox were allowing the “Boy Wonder” to talk to the Cubs. Red Sox ownership has since squelched that rumor, according to NECN Saturday night. But it does beg the question: is it true?

It does not surprise me one bit. Everyone knows that Epstein and Larry Lucchino do not see eye-to-eye. He was already willing to leave once before (in 2005) but was persuaded to come after John Henry and Tom Werner told him he would no longer have to report to Lucchino. Think about that for a second, the typical person, in sports, a General Manager reports to is the president but the relationship between the two is so strained they cannot even work together.

Much has been made of Epstein’s colossal free-agent failures such as Edgar Renteria, J.D. Drew, Julio Lugo, Daisuke Matsuzaka, John Lackey and Carl Crawford but they all fail to recognize he did re-vamp the farm system. True Jon Lester and Kevin Youkilis were Dan Duquette guys but it was Epstein who saw the potential, and relented to package either of them away in deals. He has drafted Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Daniel Bard as well as utilized the farm system to bring in guys like Victor Martinez and Adrian Gonzalez.

It is not inconceivable to think he can’t work in a small market. He never had the chance to and for all we know he could be Tampa Bay’s Andrew Friedman and keep re-stocking the system every year. Just think for a second, maybe it wasn’t Epstein who wanted to go after Matsuzaka or Lackey. The owners may have been feeding it into his ear, “here’s the money go spend it” for a big name, flashy player such as Carl Crawford. Last winter the second they signed Crawford, after already trading for Gonzalez, they became the talk of the town and were instant World Series favorites.

Let's bring one more thing to the table. Epstein is not under contract. Remember he never signed a contract when he returned so he does not need the Sox permission to talk to anyone. He is technically an "at-will" employee thus keeping the speculation that he will walk away to the Cubs open, at least for the time being.

It is such a shame things had to turn out this way, spiraling from championship glory to a city of dysfunction in the span of less than four months.