Red Sox In Lose-Lose Situation As Camp Opens
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's really nothing that any of these guys could say that would suddenly make everyone feel better, so what's the point of analyzing?
The answer is that, well, there's just not much else to do in mid-February when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. That reality, however, doesn't change the fact that no matter what they say or how they act, the Red Sox are in a lose-lose situation as camp opens for the 2012 season.
That's not to say that anyone should feel bad for the players as they face the media throng that grows by the day down in Fort Myers – hardly. It's their own fault that they're facing this long line of questioning and the leftover feelings that they owe the fans of the Red Sox some sort of apology.
Still, there's nothing that can change what happened last season, and the business of breaking down whose apology is better than another's is ultimately a fruitless endeavor.
That's what's naturally taken place, though, after Jon Lester and Josh Beckett met with the media on Sunday and did their best to shed some light on last September while maintaining a focus on the future.
"We didn't play very good," said Lester, who went 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA in six September starts. "And with all of the other stuff added on top of that, it's obviously going to make it worse. I don't blame [the fans] for being mad. We stunk. I stunk. I take complete responsibility for it."
Just a month removed from his 28th birthday, Lester has clearly taken it upon himself to assume more of a leadership role on this year's team.
"I think that desire to really compete and really win and show the fans that we do actually care," he said. "I think a lot of them think that we don't care and we're just a bunch of babies and whatever. But we do care. We want to win and we want to bring getting back to the playoffs and hopefully winning World Series back to this town again."
Co-ace Beckett wasn't quite as contrite, but given the Texan's normal demeanor, he might as well have been lying on a couch while the reporters scribbled in their notepads. This was as honest and self-critical as you'll ever see him.
"I think that we had -- I had -- lapses in judgment. I can't speak for everybody else," Beckett said Sunday. "I want to keep it at that. ... We made mistakes in the clubhouse.
"I had things going on," Beckett added. "I got distracted. That was the biggest thing that, going forward, I would definitely change, is not to be distracted."
Beckett, after going 12-5 with a 2.54 ERA from April-August, went 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA in September. The reports of chicken and beer in the clubhouse, in addition to rumors of the righty cutting back his workouts and gaining weight, have led to some backlash against Beckett. While he admitted to putting on weight, that's about all you'll be getting out of him in terms of details this spring.
"I put on a little bit of weight. I don't have a reason for it, but it happened," Beckett explained with all the excitement of a professional athlete getting peppered with questions about his health.
While their "apologies," if you will, caused varied reactions from fans, the players all accepted the matter of those fans remaining peeved at the events of September both on and off the field.
"They're the best fans in baseball, and I definitely think we have to earn their trust back," Beckett said. "And the way we have to do that is just go about our business the way we have in previous years and just earn it back and win ballgames."
While the players no doubt want to move forward, new general manager Ben Cherington has to want that even more. In his first year on the job in one of the most pressure-packed positions in all of sports, the last words he'll want to hear for a very long time are "chicken" and "beer."
Cherington, for one, told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche that he was happy with the way Beckett and Lester faced the questions head-on.
Watch Ben Cherington Talk With Dan Roche About Beckett And Lester:
"It's clear that they're taking their part in their responsibility for the team disappointment – which was a team disappointment for everyone involved, including us in the front office," Cherington told Roche. "It was not a player that contributed solely to what happened."
Really, there's nothing wrong with Beckett's or Lester's explanations for 2011, because no matter what they said, there'd still be a foul stench surrounding this year's camp. They could sit down with the media and expose their souls, they could take full responsibility for everything and they could even start crying if they really wanted to. None of that would make a lick of difference. All the players can do now is try to say the right thing and start doing what they're actually supposed to be doing – playing baseball.
It's the nit-picking and overanalyzing of these apologies that won't do any good for anybody. They're not paid to talk, and they're not paid to apologize. They're paid to pitch and play baseball, and their comments this weekend, at their very core, indicate they're very much ready for that.
