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Peter Gammons on M&M: ‘I’m pretty sickened’ by trashing of Terry Francona 10.12.11 at 1:28 pm ET
By Justin Doubleday

Peter Gammons

Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons joined Mut & Merloni Wednesday morning for his weekly appearance. Gammons gave his take on Wednesday’s Boston Globe article that gave a picture of the dysfunction that reigned in the Red Sox clubhouse during the team’s September collapse and even before that. One of the most controversial items in the article detailed how ex-manager Terry Francona may have been distracted by a failing marriage and health problems that forced him to use pain medication.

“I must say, I’m pretty sickened,” Gammons said. “I don’t need the Terry Francona out-the-door trashing. It’ll be interesting to see if they can screw it all up and trash Theo [Epstein] once he leaves. … It doesn’t speak really well about the way Tito left and the things he said, and the way Theo’s leaving, about how insane New England has become. There’s so much freneticism.”

The article suggested that Francona’s use of pain medication may affected his managing during the season. Francona has denied these claims. Gammons said that he feels that similarly controversial stories on Epstein may come out now that he is leaving for the Cubs.

“That’s my feeling on it, it’s just going to happen now with Theo, too,” Gammons said. “It’s not attractive. When I read this at, whatever, 4 o’clock in the morning here in St. Louis. I went, ‘Why?’ … A couple of players texted me, ‘Who in the world would read this?’ … It may be that some people in ownership think that Theo betrayed them. Maybe in the next week, we’ll get the owners of the Red Sox, the New York Times corporation, will trash Theo, too.”

Following are more highlights from the conversation. To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page.

On Epstein leaving with a year left on his contract: “It was my understanding that they would have discussed extending him. I don’t think he was interested in that. They clearly wanted him to stay. I’ve heard that some people in ownership have felt that he should stay for the last year of his contract. And I think the Cubs made it very difficult to turn it down with the power he’s going to end up having. … I sense more and more this year that it was getting difficult, that Theo was feeling claustrophobic. He went in there and right away had great success. He became, in a sense, a rock star. That burns out. … I think that it burned out a little bit. I think that was really, really hard on him. He’s such a private person. To lose that privacy I think is something that impacted him and his family.”

On what the Red Sox will get for compensation for Theo: “I think that more important is going to be the $15 million to $20 million, and then I think it’s going to be a prospect. A guy like Brett Jackson who is young, would immediately take over as the Red Sox’ regular right fielder, right-handed hitter, which they need. A guy like that is probably the most logical The Red Sox aren’t going to get Starlin Castro. They’re not going to take [Carlos] Zambrano or [Alfonso] Soriano, who they’ll probably end up releasing anyway. I think it will maybe be Jackson or a couple of young arms. They don’t have many major league-ready young pitchers.”

On who wanted to sign Carl Crawford: “It was Theo and Terry. They were in together on it. And Terry went down there with Theo to Houston and did a tremendous job recruiting him. There was no question that John Henry is wary of free agency. There’s no doubt about that.”

On Josh Beckett’s future after allegations of drinking in clubhouse: “I think they can turn it around with Josh. I really believe that. I have found him to be very accountable. … He blames himself and goes into it. And [Jon] Lester is the same way.”

On if the chances that Jonathan Papelbon re-signs with Boston are lowered with Epstein leaving: “It could be. … I don’t think there’s going to be another Francisco Rodriguez contract for a closer. And I think that’s the question. Is there going to be a four year, 50-60 million dollar contract for a closer who’s around 30 [years old]. I’m not sure that’s going to happen. You have to find the right team to be able to be able to spend that money. And I think there’s more and more of a tendency to say, ‘Wow, if we can find John Axford out of the semi-pro league in Canada and he ends up our closer …’

“So, it’ll be interesting. I do believe that Papelbon is really important. A couple of players, a coach have said to me, ‘In the last year, he’s really looked in the mirror and become something of a leader.’ And we know he can pitch in Boston, which not everybody can close in Boston. And he also gives you the opportunity to say OK, you go find a couple of eighth-inning guys and you put Daniel Bard in the rotation and you’ve got 180-200 innings, which they need. So I think it’s going to be fascinating. There are those people who say, ‘Jeez, Papelbon was in great shape in his walk year.’ I think he has proven over six years that he’s one guy who can really do it in Boston.”

Read More: carl crawford, Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Beckett, peter gammons Print  |  Email  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • EarlSweatshirt

    Brett Jackson is a lefty. Why does Gammons continue to talk about things he obviously has no idea about? It isn’t hard to at least get a scouting report of the guy if he wants to pretend to know minor league systems.

  • Bo

    Hey Pete, batting Crawford right behind Ortiz and Gonzales while playing cribbage every day with his best friend “peedy” should be evidence alone the man was not in his right mind. The last thing he needs now is a group of enablers to lay the frame work towards continued dispair. Love can be extremely harsh, they call it “tough love.” It is a a very rare occurance indeed that a regular “Joe” does not have a problem with addiction that to have conjecture arise regarding a more protected individual is almost always contained in Truth. Ignorance regarding addictive disorders is what stigmatizes the addict and often negates them from receiving much needed assistance. It is not an attack upon Tito’s character as a person rather it is a call for Spiritual help. Societal misconceptions are often more deadly than the problem. True men ask for help. Great generals did not become great because of the battles they fought rather from the battles they did not fight.

  • Bo

    Expecting the emotionaly stunted frat boy mentality of the Weei staff to relate to reality is as absurd as asking them to think for themselves as one must have a self to think from.

  • http://Enteryourwebsite... jackson

    we are all now a bit more dumb for having read bo’s post.

    keyboards shouldn’t be for everyone.

  • Jay

    The sox front office should be ashed for bashing him the way they are. They aren’t publicly going out and bashing on lackey for having a shitty year and sitting in the clubhouse with beckett, lester, and buchholz drinking beer eating fried chicked and playing videogames while the rest of their teammaters were out there busting their asses trying to save their teams chance of making the playoffs let alone the fact that lackey is also divorcing his wife who has breast cancer in a time when he should man up and be by her side supporting her through this. But because a person who has had more surgeries on his knees than anyone other than rem-dog it’s okay to bash him now that he’s not here right. Bo don’t know jack get a clue about how painful knee surgery is and how it affects your everyday life before you start bashing people also.

  • Jay

    ashamed…opps I can’t spell.

  • BobDole

    Peter Gammons is not a Hall of Fame writer. He is a JG Taylor Spink award winner. It is awarded at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but it is not an induction into the Hall of Fame. Can people please stop claiming he’s in the Hall of Fame?

  • BraintreeJohn

    I’m with Peter – This is pretty tough to stomach and it is way overblown. I can’t believe that someone as competitive as Beckett “doesn’t care”. And Ortiz had a fantastic year for us. He and Ellsbury were standout clutch performers even in the last month. These clubhouse issues are certainly valid but not to the extremes I’m reading about. Certainly the pitchers could have been in better shape and you can fault them and management for not making them stay fit. But lets cut out all the BS stuff. How can people question Tek and Wakefield on their desire? They care and always have.

  • MJP

    1st…Bo is a tool….2nd…The Sox are trash, disgusting behavior….Tito deserves better and will be greatly respected by the next organization he joins….Sox owners should resign, take your money and give me back my team.

  • Bo

    With the help of fools above, Jay take a breath bra, breath… in and out, my point has merited increasing validity. Thanks for making the discernment of what is and what is an illusion clearer, it is probably best that you fools appoint a better source to argue whatever it is you are trying to express? Helps with the publics chances of embracing whatever it is you feel needs embracing?

  • Bo

    Jackson lmfao… Thats like saying Osama Bin Laden is more dead because of you. You epitomise Wittgenstein’S “bedrock” phenomena as it relates to stupidity. You are as low as the scale goes bra.

  • Bo

    Thankfully you idiots all argued against me and not one against another which clearly means there are you of a kind and me of a seperate kind. Such good news.

  • Bo

    You 3 are like the fool who insinuated I was wrong for being at a particular place ” so often”. I am compelled to spell out the reason if for just you 3 morons. How can someone be disturbed about my degree of presence in a particular place through sensual experience??? This chick is not only physically undesireable she has the awareness of a block of ice. She was foolish enough to actually remark “gosh your here all the time” Such a turn off, that level of lack of awareness. She is the reason there are 500 channels of crap on television. Asleep at the wheel like you 3 mensa’s!

  • Bo

    Jackson be careful when having sex with pregnant women.. you might make them more pregnant

  • http://chicitysports.com/ A different Jackson

    That Jackson was referencing a seen in “Billy Madison”, not being stupid…

  • Bo

    Ohh my bad.. I should get all my thinking from crap hollywood movies.

  • Bo

    Do yourself a favor .. seek counsel prior to another rebuttle. It is highly advised

  • moron

    spelling was so cool
    when beau was a boy,
    now bo is a man,
    and he can’t even
    spell his own name.
    poor Bo,
    he’s really sophistitcated now.
    but he’s full of excrement.

  • Earl Averill

    Brett Jackson bats R, throws R. So Gammons was correct and Earl had his sweatshirt pulled over his head, covering his eyes.

  • mike

    hahahahaha The Sox will NOT get anything close to bjax…Peter Gammons is a tool.

  • satz
  • Bo

    at least im sophistitcated not sophisticated like people who point out right and wrong spelling.

  • Bo

    For morons sake only… that was sarcasm directed at your awful display of humor and glorious display of ignorance flavored in hypocrisy.

  • Bo

    Give you credit for the appropriate title

  • Bo

    A title you clearly live up to

  • Bo

    Under almost all circumstance you would have been let off for a typo or bad spelling but unfortunately you chose the wrong circumstance to make that blunder. Sorta like losing 20 of 27 and comming up a game short of the playoffs. Unforgivable

  • Bo Bo

    My name’s Bo! I take medication! Watch me post and post and post………and post. I sure am glad this state sends me a cuckoo check every month! That way instead of mopping floors I can post and post and post! Oh, and throw my own feces at the wall! YAY!

  • http://fullcount.weel Jim Legg

    It’s amazing how all the name-calling starts once a high-profile manager like Terry Francona leaves the Red Sox. From all I’ve seen of him, he’s a class act on the baseball field and he’s not bad as a color commentator with Joe Buck.

  • axis70

    woo..too funny…well…just employ the Boston/Yankee/Met model for excellence…you know..fire every asset…an then throw an endless supply of money at free agents who will under perform til your stuck paying their contacts for 8 to 10 years…yeah..you know.. right before you send them to another team to remove the cancer from your organization..yeah…you know….just ask the Mets how it’s done..they’ll give you the schematic on Bobby Bo’s contract…just apply it to Crawford..okay..well..cheer up Sox Nation..you’ll be okay..huhh..well..enjoy your long winter everybody..sorry the 169 million couldn’t buy you guys some class…oh well..better luck next time..peace..:)

  • axis70

    Hey…theirs a rumor going around that Big Poppy Seed might be going to the White Sox to DH…hey…shhhh…let me give you Boston peeps a hot tip…shhhh…I bet you could get “Adam’s Dunn” really cheap off the free agent market…shhhh…yep..it’s a hot tip…shhhh…yep..it probably won’t cost yus guys but around 14 to 16 million a year…shhhh….don’t tell anybody…shhhh…yep…jump on that….yep..he’s prime for the picking…shhhh…it’s a secret…:)

  • Bo is a douche

    Lol, when did “Bo” get released on good behavior?!? Push off little man and troll somewhere else.

  • Bubba

    The scary thing is that Bo makes these feeble attempts to prove that he is articulate and spews this bloviated verbiage in a vain attempt to obfuscate the fact that he is, in fact, full of crap. Oh, and Bo – your BFF, Crawford, still sucks. Really really bad. Very much sucks. Alot. I’d have him hitting tenth.

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  • mikepatriot

    Screw familial allegiances, Go Pats! Crush Zak deossie!

  • PD in Jackson Heights

    Steve actually played linebacker with the Giants, check his record.  ”screw familial allegiances? ” If you had nuts to crush mike, then maybe you could sire a son and know a bond beyond your New England provincialism.  PD from Jackson Heights.

  • mikepatriot

    I’m well aware of Steve’s resume and generally enjoy the man’s understanding and breakdown of the sport. The guy is a local man educated at Don Bosco. His business partner, F. Smerlas played for the Bills but is still a pats homer. Listen to Steve every opportunity i can. I’ll keep my New England provincialism, thank you. Actually, after the loathsome jets and giants, there isn’t a team that i really hate. Steve can root for his son, i’ll have to forgive him for this blind loyalty that develops everytime the pats face the giants, meanwhile get back to the new yawk boards, ok?

  • Koedo2001

    PD, that was one of the best smack downs I’ve ever read. It’s clear Mike’s not punching at your weight.

  • Positivemike

    hey son of troll, go back to jersey/new yawk boards with your limp wrist jabs,.

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