Bye bye Tito, We hardly knew ye:

[Run DMC]

I told you MFers he was done. According to ESPN, he's toast. He let these fat lazy bums get away with murder. It's time to clean house. Buh-bye Nancy Drew, sLackey, Scuty, Papi and/or Youk. They should also ditch Wakefailed, fat Josh, Geritek, and most of the bullpen. Rebuild mode will now commence.

 

[Wolfpack]

If true - and after Thursday's ridiculous press conference I think it is - it will be a horrible decision. Absolutely horrible.

Once calmer heads prevail - and the team sucks for the next few years - others will realize that they just let go the best manager the Red Sox have had in the past 3/4th of a century.

 

[captain insano]

if this is true its beyond dumb. stupid knee jerk reaction. you cant blame the coach for this mess of a team. fire theo. hes the guy who signed bums like lackey not tito.

 

[Run DMC]

I disagree with you fellas. This is the same guy who bats Agon 4th and Lavarnway 5th in the most important game of the season?! So what happens? Our best hitter gets walked 3 times! Another boneheaded decision which exemplifies the bad decision making which doomed this team from day 1. The entire coaching staff and especially the conditioning coaches need to be canned immediately. Am I the only person who can see this? This is not kneejerk, it is needed and overdue. Oh, and Theo needs the axe as well.

 

[ausbacker]

If Francona does move on (or is moved on), despite whatever personal feelings people have toward his management of the Red Sox, we all owe him a massive debt of gratitude.

 

[jcdavey]

you guys wanted the yankees payroll and world series rings, you've gotta accept the super high standars now, like they have

i think it's stupid to fire him, or for him to resign, or the buyout thing the club is going to do, but the expectations due to payroll were just set so ridiculously high, and the choke was so huge.....

 

[borg]

Can someone fill me in on these "out of shape" claims. I live in FL. so I only get to watch the national broadcasts. No question this Sox team physically broke down and I couldn't believe how John Lester looked like he was David Wells' kid brother.
But going down the roster, who else looked suspect. Adrian G was always slow, Youk just doesn't have an athletic body, Drew just isn't tough. Every other offensive player seemed ready physically. Are they pointing fingers at the fitness of the pitchers in particular?
If that's the case, I'm of the opinion that Theo ignores athleticism when he assembles his pitching staff. When I think of great staffs, the Braves trio of Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddox come to mind first....all were amazing athletes. Then I look at the body type of Becket...and especially Lackey. Physically, Lackey reminds me of a bigger Youk...just not that athletic. As these guys age, the body changes and the best athletes will be able to maintain performance while the less put together guys lose it faster.
Any way, which players are they pointing fingers at?
Thanks

 

[resdubwhite]

"we all failed collectively"

Yes Theo.

Yes

 

[borg]

"we all failed collectively"

Yes Theo.

Yes

Think how sick in the stomach Tito must have been sending that motley crew of starters out in September. Lackey, Wakefield, Bedard...etc. Just awful.
I'm more than willing to point fingers and blame Tito for the Sox slow start in April. He treated spring training as a healing opportunity for too many. The team was not ready to compete come opening day. Those losses hurt.
But Theo? Man that guy must have compromising photos of Henry. $100s of million spent on aweful players with aweful contracts. Expecting Drew to be more than what he was. Spending $100 mill on Dice K because he struck out Japanese hitters? etc etc. And when crunch time came the last few weeks, Theo provided nothing to this club. Bedard?
How can management allow Theo to continue chucking their money down the toilet with this hit or miss approach?

 

[Jack Handy]

Call Joe Torre now.

 

[captain insano]

the redsox are a freakin joke and it feels like its pre 2004 all over again. what a stupid decision to let tito go. the one thing they had was stability with the coach . thats something they never had before. instead we are stuck with theo the one who assembled this turd of a team.

 

[patsfanofNC12]

It's been a while since I've been up here but I had to check out the comments about Tito. I just don't see how you can fire the guy. He is not solely to blame for the collapse. The man tried a lot of different things but the players all just sucked except for Jacoby. It is a really dumb decision to get rid of him. What better manager will we find out there?

Also, Epstein has made some dumb signing decisions but he still is good too. I think the jury is still out on Crawford. Most people struggle their first year in Boston and a guy with Carl's talent can't stay that bad. He did better in the second half anyway, so maybe next year will be a rebirth after seeing what happened this year. Lackey is awful I will give everyone that. And it is time to let Drew go and replace him with Reddick. However, Salty wasn't a terrible add. He has shown some promise considering how bad he used to be. And Scutaro isn't great by any means but he is just a stopgap until one of the minor league players is ready and he did heat up towards the end of the season when we needed him.

Imo, this one mostly falls on the players. We need more pitching and no Buchholz really hurt. Bard just collapsed which also sucked. Youk was hurt all year but is still a good player. And please God bring back Aceves. But honestly, we needed this. This team has been coasting off of just being able to say they made it to the playoffs every year. Now they will have to look at their faults and fix them. But Tito isn't one!!

 

[resdubwhite]

Think how sick in the stomach Tito must have been sending that motley crew of starters out in September. Lackey, Wakefield, Bedard...etc. Just awful.
I'm more than willing to point fingers and blame Tito for the Sox slow start in April. He treated spring training as a healing opportunity for too many. The team was not ready to compete come opening day. Those losses hurt.
But Theo? Man that guy must have compromising photos of Henry. $100s of million spent on aweful players with aweful contracts. Expecting Drew to be more than what he was. Spending $100 mill on Dice K because he struck out Japanese hitters? etc etc. And when crunch time came the last few weeks, Theo provided nothing to this club. Bedard?
How can management allow Theo to continue chucking their money down the toilet with this hit or miss approach?

Thats my reading of the situation too. Any news on whether the cubs are going to make a move for him.


Redsox.com reporting that Tito likely done at Fenway.

 

[fair catch fryar]

I told you MFers he was done. According to ESPN, he's toast. He let these fat lazy bums get away with murder. It's time to clean house. Buh-bye Nancy Drew, sLackey, Scuty, Papi and/or Youk. They should also ditch Wakefailed, fat Josh, Geritek, and most of the bullpen. Rebuild mode will now commence.

Angry much? Getting rid of all those you suggest is dumb. I don't agree with this decision, but that's the business side of it and I for one, am very thankful for having Tito at the helm and for all he accomplished with the Red Sox.

 

[Mogamedogz]

Theo has got to go. You could have put an end to hunger with the amount of cash this dip**** has flushed down the toliet in the last 7-8 years.

Wiz kid my ass. More like spoiled brat who was given the keys to the Porsche...

 

[Wolfpack]

Theo has got to go. You could have put an end to hunger with the amount of cash this dip**** has flushed down the toliet in the last 7-8 years.

Wiz kid my ass. More like spoiled brat who was given the keys to the Porsche...

Is it just me or does it seems like people have totally forgotten that IN THE PAST 8 YEARS THE RED SOX UNDER EPSTEIN WON 2 WORLD SERIES??!

They went 86 years without winning. And now people are in a panic because the current count has reached 4.

 

[resdubwhite]

Is it just me or does it seems like people have totally forgotten that IN THE PAST 8 YEARS THE RED SOX UNDER EPSTEIN WON 2 WORLD SERIES??!

They went 86 years without winning. And now people are in a panic because the current count has reached 4.

I think the same can be said about Tito too. But lots of people forget that.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Easy to blame Theo and easy to blame Tito ... and they do deserve some blame of course. But there's is always the question of why certain free agents are signed.

Are they signed because Theo thinks they are right for the club or qre they signed because John Henry thinks they are better for NESN ratings.

It's a valid question many have brought up and it would be a coup if a media member could get to the bottom of this issue.

On another note Yankees lose to the Tigers and they fire Girardi we get Torre and they get Francona

 

[Wolfpack]

I think the same can be said about Tito too. But lots of people forget that.

+1 and that's why I don't think Tito should be fired (and yes, when you refuse to exercise an option it is the equivalent of being fired).

I will add the one caveat that the more I learn about the situation, the more I think Tito himself wants to be let loose to go elsewhere. So if that is indeed the case, I won't blame the team for letting him do that. But my preference would be that both Theo and Tito stay.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Firing Tito is a major mistake, firing Theo needs to be done.

Tito did not sign Drew, Crawford, Lackey, et al.

Francona will be unemployed for about five minutes. Theo is a joke, how can you field a tema who play 81 games in Fenway park, and not have a single right handed power hitter on the team!!! Nobody, not one, maybe Youk, but he really hasn't played in two years.

Crawford was god awful, he made Lugo look good. Drew was hurt (gee theirs a suprise) plus he is done anyways. Lackey was abismal, none of that was Tito's fault.

I would say 1,000% more blame for this catastorphe falls on Theo than Tito.

Ttito can only put out there what he has. Can you blame him for Youk getting hurt? (and of course, no adequate back-up). Can you blame him for his starting pitching sucking? He didn't sign Lackey.

The Sox losty like 8 games trying to get Wakefield win number 200.

Next years team needs a serious re-molding. I can only think of five guys who deserve to keep their jobs:

Pedroria (dud)
Ellsbury
Gonzalez
Scuturo
Lester
Buchotlz

and that's about it.

Beckett will be back, ditto for Saltamacchia, it looks like Lavarnway has the back-up cathcer job, Bard will stay.

I think they need to somehow get a right hitting outfielder. I don't know who is out there, but anybody has to be better than Drew/Reddick/McDonald.

Theo made the BIG mistake last year in letting Beltre get away, he should have kept him and moved Youkilis to left field. The Sox need a right hand hitting DH too!


Theo should try and move Crawford and Lackey, maybe someone will take them. It is hard to believe that Lackey is the same guy who the Sox could absolutely not hit, and that Crawford say the guy who constantly killed the Sox. I'm pretty sure Crawford had more stolen bases against Varitek in one game as a Ray, than he did all year as a SOx.


Bottomline, the collapse is Theo's fault and Tito is taking the blame....