The further we get into the 2012 season, the more it becomes glaringly apparent that the Red Sox clubhouse is divided. It started in the offseason with the chicken and beer scandal, continued in spring training with what Buster Olney reported as confrontations regarding the clubhouse “snitches” and was still evident on Monday when Bobby Valentine brought into question Kevin Youkilis‘ commitment to the game.
Gordon Edes wrote on Monday that there was reason to believe Youkilis was one of the players “called out” by Josh Beckett in an attempt to identify the “snitch” in the Red Sox clubhouse. When Youkilis was asked about it this is what he offered,
"There were tons of thing’s going around where guys had questions,"
He was then asked more specifically if he was singled out by Beckett.
"No, I mean, there were things that people questioned, stuff like that, normal stuff going on."
Youk didn’t exactly slam the door on the possibility that he was in fact singled out by Beckett.
This echoes the claims by Buster Olney that he witnessed emotional conversation between players regarding the “snitch” as recently as spring training.
With all that turmoil in the clubhouse the last thing you would want is to add more right?
Apparently Bobby Valentine doesn’t see it that way–as evidenced by his public criticism of Youkilis to the media on Sunday night.
Of course–after Dustin Pedroia came to the aid of Youkilis–Bobby said he wasn’t criticizing him and his comments were misconstrued. Apparently he was actually “talking about his swing” and “not throwing as many helmets as he had seen on TV in the past”. Come on, Bobby can’t you do any better than that?
The situation between Bobby and Youkilis just adds another element to a rift in the Red Sox clubhouse that could prove to be the demise of the 2012 season. There’s now a lack of trust on two different levels–the players don’t trust each other and now they have doubts they can trust their manager. There are 24 guys in that clubhouse wondering if they’re the next to get outed publicly when they have a slump, because every player has one at some point.
It breaks down to this–there’s no trust, there’s no chemistry, there’s no freakin’ way the Sox make the postseason if this crap continues.
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