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Adrian Gonzalez refutes claims made in report 08.15.12 at 8:09 pm ET
By Rob Bradford

Adrian Gonzalez said Wednesday that some of the claims made in Tuesday's Yahoo! Sports report were inaccurate. (AP)

BALTIMORE – Speaking to WEEi.com prior to the Red Sox’ game against the Orioles Wednesday night at Camden Yards, Adrian Gonzalez said that the Yahoo! Story portraying the first baseman as a ring-leader in the players’ July 26 meeting with ownership was not factual.

“The source is inaccurate,” Gonzalez said. “it says that I was animated and one of the most vocal guys in the meeting, and that’s false.”

When asked if he was surprised after reading the report, Gonzalez said, “Absolutely, because, first of all, if somebody is going to try and be an unnamed source they better be right with whatever they say. This is putting our integrity and everything about us out there, and that’s just unfair. … I just know I was one of the least vocal guys there.”

Gonzalez also reiterated what Red Sox principal owner John Henry wrote in an email earlier Wednesday, stating that it was Henry who called the three separate meetings – with the players, coaches, and manager.

“Yeah, he did,” the first baseman said when asked if Henry organized the meeting.

Gonzalez also refuted the report’s premise that part of the meeting was in order to force Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine out of the door, while downplaying any sort of rift between the player and manager.

“Distractions are not a reason why we lose,” Gonzalez said. “We’re professionals and we’re groomed to understand it’s part of the game, and we need to be above that. Whether I do good on the field has nothing to do with what’s written about me. When I step on the field I’m focused on winning the game. I had a discussion with Bobby about that today. He knows exactly what happened. He knows the truth. I don’t know why this all of a sudden becomes something because this happened a month ago. So it’s all been cleared, and now somebody decides to write it. It’s already old.

“I think we’re all getting accustomed to Bobby. I’ve told this to John Henry, I’ve told this to Ben Cherington, and I’ve told it to Bobby, I think he’s a good manager. Nobody faults him for losing, and that’s unfair.”

Gonzalez did relay the frustrations of the team in regards to dealing with such reports, a similar concern that was passed along Tuesday night by David Ortiz and others.

“Just like every story around here, there are parts that are true, and parts that are false,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s wrong for the fans to get half of a story, half of the truth. Our focus has been to just go out and play ball and just worry about baseball. Things like this come up that we have to respond to, but at the end of the day it’s about playing ball.

“Every story has it’s significance. Ballplayers get frustrated when things aren’t 100 percent accurate, because then it’s just making people perceive things that aren’t true. We care about the fans, the Boston people, Red Sox Nation, so if something is to come out we want it to be 100 percent honest. When it’s not it doesn’t put anybody in a good spot.”

And what does Gonzalez believe is going to stop what has seemed like a non-stop wave of drama throughout the 2012 season?

“Everything ends with winning. Everything ends with production,” he said. “We make a run like we want to, like we’re striving for, this will all be on the back-burner at the end of the day. If we don’t, it will be part of the reason why and that’s unfortunate because us here in the clubhouse are focused on winning, focused on preparation and focused on doing everything we can to win. These are all side-notes that take away from our main goal.”

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  • P24gb

    Boston media wants to lose, so they can rip on athletes.  No one tries to fail.  The very best teams are maybe ten games ahead of them.  All of baseball is average.  Some guys just make more money.  Quit writing about the negative.  You guys hated Youkilis until he left.  Reddick was average until he left.  Lester and Beckett would excel if they leave.  Not because of them, because of the Boston Media!

  • Cynical1284

    Another article by Bradford where he is clearly in the tank for the Red Sox, great reporting Rob, hope it is worth your credibility…. So P24gb you are telling me that the Boston media is responsible for Beckett being spoiled out of shape, sporting 5 wins and an ERA in the high 5′s??? How do they manage that???

  • Hoosiered

    Gonzalez talks about being ” professional” but it appears that he and his teammates haven’t backed that up by including BV in the meeting on 7/26. I’m not a huge BV fan but it seems to me like he should have been included. This Boisox fan from afar is quickly tiring of all the drama. They were more enjoyable when they hadn’t won a championship in 90+ years. They have lost the fire.

  • Kman1020

    Players denying a story…ownership downplaying the severity of the meeting….Bobby V. taking the high road….I think I saw this movie last Fall when it came out. It was called Taking One for the Team starring Tito Francona. As a die hard Red Sox fan, I find more interest in watching repeats of Crocodile Dundee over and over than watching this team right now. 

  • redsoxfan45

    Gonzalez never denied sending a text message to ownership on behalf of the rest of his coward teammates, requesting a meeting. There is no mention in the Yahoo column where the players asked that Valentine be fired. Yet, John Henry in full spin cycle, refuted the Yahoo story by saying the players never requested that Valentine be fired. Of course, that’s how he operates…he and Lucchino. Stop being such a control freak John Henry and especially Larry Lucchino, and let Ben Cherington do his job…until you empower Ben, you will continue to sink in the abyss.

  • redsoxfan45

    And Rob Bradford, you are so bad. Kiss butt. And proof read your column next time…7th paragraph. And how come Buster Olney “toxic” clubhouse and Jeff Passan “meeting” outperform you all the time…you are the Josh Beckett of Boston media…congrats, and belly up for a beer!

  • mg

    Bradford is the crissy mathews of boston sports writers.
    Keep that tingle going for those athletes.

  • Source

    how long are you going to beat this story bradford…this happened 3 weeks ago?   you are the QUEEN of unnamed sources in boston.  how does you even stay employed?
    go write with the 2 bimbos at the herald and go on the giselle baby bump watch…..

  • Tito

    Bradford is now the official joke of the media. He just passed Thomase as far as no credibility.

  • Claire

    exactly….

  • Anonymous

    CHBF is still PO’d that they ruined “The Curse of the Bambino” story.

  • Kingkelly

    Can we all agree that Bradford is a pustule of a foul breath, egg-sucking yeller dog?  And that he has his lips sutured to the butt cheeks of our whiny, millionaire ball players?  Great!  Now let’s move on to content.  Why would you not want to hear what Gonzo has to say?  He didn’t deny the point of a grip session, or claim the report was entirely false.  Just that it laid out sketchy dots and guess that create a picture that is half true at best, and is three weeks out of date – and AGAIN creates more drama and distraction. 

    Look.  We have an unsourced report from an out of town Yahoo (Passan).  He apparently missed the fact that there were three separate meetings, organized by Mr. Henry, and  virtually ignores any notion that there might have been complaints against the media (who have been in an inmates-running-the-asylum/BV-death-watch pack hunting mode since April).  Do you think there is even a 1 in 1000 chance the players and staff weren’t screaming about the media in those gripe sessions? 

    All Bradford does is create a save haven with a microphone for the players to give their side.  As fans, we have a right to hear it AS PART OF THE MIX — generally, and especially when the local media were lame and blind covering the team last year.  This year they have overcompensated in some areas — the breathless ‘clock ticking’ on the Bard experiment as a starter, followed by post-game ritual of getting him to talk through every mis-step and planned adjustment, until the kid became an overthinking train wreck — while letting the FO off the hook entirely on the most basic stuff.  In this muddle of a FUBAR year, there IS no single reliable source.  We are stuck trying to make sense out of a lot of different voices, and what Rob provides is an absolutely essential part of the mix.

    Just try holding your nose the next time you read one of his player interviews… 

  • Alketk

     Ok so your point ? they still suck who cares about Bradford report,they have no pitching and the players have under performed and the mentality of this club bouse is wrong.They re done and the owners knows it but they re worried about the “sell out record”what a bs

  • Redsoxfanatic6655

    rob bradford is a deuchebag

  • guest

    Thanks for bringing a little bit of SD baseball with you to Boston you jerk

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