By Maureen Mullen
CSNNE.comFollow @maureenamullen
BOSTON -- Not surprisingly, there were no major announcements that emerged from a 32-minute press conference hosted by Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park, with presidentCEO Larry Lucchino among several of the teams executives looking on.
But that leaves many questions still unanswered. Primarily, the fate of the two menEpstein and Francona -- who guided the Sox to a 90-72 record and a third-place finish in the American League East, missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season. The teams 7-20 record in September, an epic collapse on the way to what seemed a certain playoff berth, is the principal reason for those questions.
When asked what the team plans to do with Franconas two-year option for a total of 8.75 million (4.25 million in 2012, 4.5 million in 2013, or a 750,000 buyout), Epstein replied:
Tito and I spent some time talking today, just kind of catching up about the season and talking about what the next few days will look like. Were going to get together, all the ownership and Larry and I and Tito over the next several days, and talk about the season, and talk about the future. I think were less than 24 hours removed from the end of the season. So we need some time to calm down, get objective, and look at ourselves, look at 2011, and look ahead, make the best decisions for everybody.
But I cant answer that question without saying that weve already talked about itprincipal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner Larry, and Inobody blames this, what happened in September, on Tito. Thatd be totally irresponsible and totally short-sighted and wouldnt recognize everything that he means to the organization and to all our successes, including at times during 2011. So we take full responsibility for what happened, all of us. Collectively, it was a failure. And Im the general manager so I take more responsibility than anybody. But I dont think we believe inI know we dont believe inscapegoats and in particular no one blames Tito for what happened in September. "
One of the issues is the teams approach to high-priced free agents. John Lackey just completed the second year of a five-year, 82.5 million contract. Carl Crawford now has six years remaining on his seven-year, 142 million deal. J.D. Drew just completed his five-year, 70 million contract. Daisuke Matsuzaka has one year left on his six-year, 52 million contract (plus 51.1 million posting fee). All have largely been busts in their tenures with the Sox.
Boston Red Sox
When speaking about things that arent exactly the way we want them to be in this organizationn, our decision-making process on expensive free agents, big-ticket free agents, has not been satisfactory, Epstein said. Not at all. So thats another area that we have to address, and look in the mirror, and dig deep into the process and see what were doing wrong because the results demonstrate that thats not an aspect of the organization thats functioning at a high enough level to meet our standards."
An appearance of lack of overall conditioning by the players will also be addressed.
I think we have high standards in that area and in other areas and I can't sit here and say those standards have been met across the board, Epstein said. So Im not going to lump everyone in together. But Ill say there are certain instances where we can and have to do better. It will be addressed. I think some of the things Tito was alluding to earlier about the way the clubhouse evolved -- and Im not throwing this at all exclusively on the players, because I have a ton of respect for almost everyone down there and the leadership that a lot of them show -- but the way the clubhouse culture has evolved, and this falls on me ultimately as the general manager, we need to be more accountable.
If were not better prepared than the other team, one through 25 when its game time, then thats a problem and it has to be addressed. If were not doing the little things on the field, playing fundamentally better than the other team, one through 25, then thats a problem and it all falls on me as the general manager to fix that. So in some small ways weve gotten away a little bit from our ideal, what we want to be, on the field and off the field, and so its our responsibility to fix it.
Theres nothing good that comes from this September collapse at all, but theres one silver lining, I guess. Its that when you do make the playoffs and you can fall back on a track record of success, theres a tendency to look past certain things that might not be exactly the way that you want them. But when you go through what we just went through, you can't look past anything.
"You have to take a hard look at every aspect of the organization, oneself included, and ask, Is this exactly the way we want it to be? If everythings going right for the Red Sox, if were exactly who we want to be, is this element of the organization functioning the way we want it to?
Epsteins own future with the Sox is also in question. His name has been in the mix of those who would take over as GM of the Cubs. Asked about his future, Epstein replied:
Thats just speculation. Ill throw myself in the same boat as Tito and the coaches, just 24 hours, less than 24 hours after the last game. Were going to all get together with ownership and discuss everything. I think the process that were going to undertake is identifying all the issues, or continue to identify all the issues, that need addressing, taking a hard look at ourselves and seeing whether were the people to address them.
"I believe in a lot of people in this organization, including Tito, including myself, and when were at our best, I think this is the best organization in baseball and this year we werent at our best."
After starting the season 0-6 and 2-10, the Sox rebounded to post one of the teams most successful seasons in any campaign. They entered September with a record of 83-52 (a .615 winning percentage), the best record in the American League, second only to the Phillies 86-46 (.652). The 83 wins were the Sox most entering September since 84 in 1978. But their September collapse, with a winning percentage of just .259, left them out of the playoffs for the third time in the last six seasons.
A season of such wide variances makes it difficult to evaluate the team.
I think it makes it a little bit more difficult, than a season in which we played consistently throughout at a certain level, Epstein said. But I think we have to accept the three phases of the season for what they were. We got off to a really bad start, 2-10. I think we have identified some of the reasons for that and some of it well probably never know. And then we played great for about four months. We went 81-42. I think we were the best team in baseball. I think that period represented us at our best, our true talent level without any real issues dragging us down. And then obviously September, 7-20, as bad as you can get. And well be dissecting that phase of the season forever.
"So we cant say, Hey, were that team in the middle. We have to own all three phases of the season, including the most important month, which was September, which sunk us."
There was a perception that the players lacked a sense of urgency over the final month of the season.
I think its hard to discuss urgency in and of itself because its a personal feeling that each player may or may not have, Epstein said. But the response to urgency, when you handle it well, is increased focus, togetherness, intensity, preparation, raising your level of play at the most important time. So I think you can certainly say across the board that if the urgency was felt, we didnt respond to it the right way. We didnt respond to it in the Red Sox way, in away we can be proud of. I do think there was urgency in the clubhouse."
Which inevitably leads to regrets.
Yeah, I have regrets, Epstein said. Because we had a big lead, but we did sense that things werent right. A lot of things went wrong and a lot of things had to go wrong for us to blow the lead. But they did and I dont think any of them were completely unforeseen.
"So we tried different things. Tito talked about his team meeting in Toronto. I actually addressed the team myself later on in themonth before a game. We redoubled our efforts off the field. In the front office there's things we can do, watching games over, looking at charts or seeing if there are little tidbits we can offer to players or the coaching staff.
Tito . . . tried to find anything he could do to reach the team. So the bottom line is we didnt. We didnt find a way to stop the slide and then bigger picture, sure, there were plenty of regrets. There was a lot of talent in that clubhouse and we didnt get results commensurate with that talent and just from a straight player personnel standpoint I could have made several decisions differently that would have impacted us and given us an even bigger lead along the way so that we wouldnt have had to worry about having a month like September.
So, true there were regrets. I dont know specifically right now that there was any one thing we could have done but Im sure it'll come to us over time. But because we didn't get the result we wanted, even though weve identified some issues, yeah, we have to live with the regret.
Maureen Mullen is on Twitter at http:twitter.commaureenamullen