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Lou Merloni on Bradford Files podcast: ‘I never would have seen this coming’ 10.05.11 at 1:33 pm ET
By Justin Doubleday

Former Red Sox infielder and current WEEI co-host Lou Merloni joined the Bradford Files podcast to discuss life in a dysfunctional Red Sox clubhouse and how the Sox can turn around the bad off-field situation that prevailed in 2011.

Merloni has experience in the matter, having lived through it when he was a member of the 2001 Red Sox lineup.

“It was awful. We had some personalities that just hated to come to the clubhouse every day,” Merloni recalled. “We had big personalities. We had Carl Everett.”

After the collapse of the 2011 Red Sox, numerous reports have come out that point toward poor team chemistry as one reason for September’s debacle. Merloni was as surprised as most others that a veteran team with a veteran manager in Terry Francona would allow the collapse to happen.

“I never would have seen this coming. You never did. This is a core of guys that have won championships who know what to expect, what it takes to win. The stability was there in the manager’s office,” Merloni said. “What changed to have this core group that knew what it takes lose priority on their focus, on their drive to do what it takes to get better individually?”

Following are more highlights from the conversation. To hear the podcast, go to the WEEI.com audio on demand page.

On if the poor chemistry began during the September collapse: “I think this started before that, whether the sense of entitlement that started maybe in spring training, not getting your work in to get ready, just expecting, listen, ‘I’ve been here before. I know I know what it takes. I know how to do this.’ I think maybe Tito is the fault of that, giving these guys too much credit to get ready rather than pushing them. But this is something that had to start throughout the year, and when things go bad, that’s when you find out about teams. That’s when you find out about individual players. That’s when you find out how much they care about one another. … I think this was in the works for some time.”

On drinking in the locker room: “I’ve seen starting pitchers come out of games and sit in their locker, they take their shirt off and whatever it is and go and crack a beer. Their job is over. I’ve seen guys get thrown out of games, go up there upset and crack open a beer. But I’ve never seen a starting pitcher who is not throwing that night just casually sitting up on the couch having a beer during a game. We’ve talked about it on the air today and people say, ‘Oh, I’m not naive to say that doesn’t happen.’ Well it doesn’t happen. We’ve heard from John Kruk, we’ve heard from Kevin Millar, we’ve heard from players who refused to believe that could even be possible and it was on this team. So I don’t know, I’ve never heard that.”

On how Boston can bounce back next season like the 2002 Red Sox rebounded from 2001: “We had the opportunity to rid ourself of a Mike Lansing or Carl Everett, that’s the first thing, and our leader Joe Kerrigan. We brought in Grady Little the next year. They need to identify the problems. Now, what if the problem is a major player on this team who is under contract for a while? How do you rid yourself of that? …

“It’s important, I think, to bring in character guys, veteran guys, leadership guys that are going to lead by example and maybe be a vocal leader. Carlos Baerga was one of the best clubhouse guys I’ve ever seen in my life. And Tony Clark was one of the most respected players, even though he had an awful year that year, still one of the most respected players in the game. So you have to bring in a couple of those guys and you have to rid yourself of maybe some of the issues in that clubhouse, but it might not be as easy for this team.”

Read More: Carl Everett, John Kruk, Lou Merloni, Terry Francona Print  |  Email  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
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