McAdam: Owners under microscope more than ever

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The manager has already left, at least partly of his volition. The general manager is poised to follow, again, voluntarily.

In the coming days, unless the Red Sox have one more giant surprise up their sleeves, Ben Cherington will be named as Theo Epstein's replacement, and he, in turn, will resume the search for Terry Francona's replacement.

Then, the real test will begin -- but not for Cherington, who is widely praised as a solid executive deserving of the opportunity about to be presented to him.

No, this is a test for ownership. And if you're a Red Sox fan, you have to hope that this is one they pass. Anything less could send the franchise into complete disarray -- if they haven't already passed that point.

Almost two weeks ago, Epstein, in providing a post-mortem on the 2011 Red Sox, said that it was important for the management team to "own" -- i.e. take responsibility -- for the September collapse.

Now, it's ownership's turn.

There are no more scapegoats left. The troika of John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner clearly weren't interested in retaining Francona, a signal they sent when they declined to exercise his two option years last winter, and then again, when they listened to Francona's frustrations after the season but offered no indication they wished him back for 2012 and beyond.

Nor were the owners in any hurry to prevent Epstein from talking to the Cubs -- even if they weren't forthcoming enough to acknowledge it. Instead, Lucchino and Henry blathered on about "privacy" issues in an interview with WEEI last week and treated queries about Epstein's future with the club as some sort of personal affront.

If the owners want to hold Epstein and Francona as the two individuals most responsible for the nightmarish ending to the recent season, that's their right. As general manager and manager, the two certainly deserve to shoulder a good chunk of the blame for the worst final-month collapse in club history.

But Francona is gone and Epstein will soon join him, leaving ownership squarely in the crosshairs going forward.

The owners have to shoulder some responsibility for the corrupted culture that surrounds the club and for not providing better direction or setting the proper tone.

That means there are no more convenient targets of blame -- except for the owners themselves, of course. For even if Cherington and the new manager fail in their positions, they will have been placed there by ownership, who preferred the unknown rather than the people already on hand and under contract.

Already, there was a growing perception in the clubhouse that ownership was again placing business concerns above winning. The mere suggestion that owners wanted the Sox to play a doubleheader hours after an all-night flight from Texas in late August sent the wrong message to the clubhouse.

One member of the organization noted at the time: "This never would have happened a few years ago."

By diversifying their interests with investments in NASCAR and the English Premier League, Henry and Co. have invited that sort of skepticism. Before the Red Sox won their second World Series, there was a feeling that the owners were consumed by all things Red Sox. Lately, there's a feeling that Liverpool has their undivided attention and the Sox have been relegated to just another cash cow.

It will be fascinating, too, to watch ownership's involvement with Cherington.

Epstein famously quit after the 2005 season when he determined that the organization's focus was off-center and because he felt Lucchino was meddling too much in baseball operations.

Out of respect for what Epstein has already accomplished -- a world championship, another trip to the ALCS and three trips to the postseason in three tries -- Henry ordered a separate-but-equal truce between his GM and his team president.

Will Cherington get that same courtesy, or will Lucchino move into the power vacuum created by Epstein's departure and exert his will on the less experienced Cherington?

For that matter, will the club's recent disastrous forays into free agency (John Lackey, Carl Crawford) dissuade them from entering the market this winter and subsequent offseasons? Will the small return on the Daisuke Matsuzaka investment mean they won't be players for Yu Darvish, expected to be this year's most sought-after Japanese import?

Presumably, these and other answers will be forthcoming. It would be nice to get some clarity rather than the strange silence -- beyond the dastardly, off-the-record sliming of exiting employees, that is -- that has existed of late.

At some point, the same owners who basked in the glow of a clubhouse standing ovation given them just eight months ago might be wise to hold the applause and re-examine their own role in the franchise's unraveling.

Sean McAdam can be reached at smcadam@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Sean on Twitter at http:twitter.comsean_mcadam.

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