The Boston Globe's front-page story yesterday on the Red Sox' late-season collapse is drawing harsh criticism, largely for its sources' portrayal of former manager Terry Francona. ESPN’s Curt Schilling on last night’s “Baseball Tonight” called the report a “character assassination piece.” Schilling, who played for the Red Sox from '04-08, said, “It’s the intent of the front office to give Terry a kick as he’s already outside the door.” Schilling called the move a “personal thing.” Schilling said the Red Sox owners have "ruined the 9-10 years of goodwill they’ve built there. … The people that did this embarrassed the franchise because stuff in that article can only come from one of three places: The team trainer, the team doctor or the executives in the front office” (“Baseball Tonight,” ESPN, 10/12).
Current TV's Keith Olbermann addressed the story in the closing segment of yesterday's "Countdown," calling it a "remarkable hatchet job." Olbermann said of the story's anonymous sources: "Whoever doesn't get the blame, they're probably the source. ... The Sox owners are the sources. The Boston Globe in fact comprises part of the Sox owners." The "first thing" John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner "need to do is find out which of them, or which of their minions, was so ethically bankrupt as to trash the men who made the team's success possible as those men went out the door." Olbermann: "In short, the wrong executives are leaving Boston" (Current TV, 10/12).
The N.Y. Times’ Tyler Kepner tweeted: "The Globe story on Red Sox' collapse is amazing. Forget who leaked what. They got the info, they got Francona's response, great job." ESPN’s Howard Bryant: “Great work by Bob Hohler in the Boston Globe on Red Sox collapse. A revealing look at human relationships in the public eye.” CBS' Mike Freeman: "Can you imagine the reaction if NFL players did what these Red Sox pitchers did? Nuclear. Freaking. Bomb." PR professional Greg Kamp: “Red Sox have a GM issue, a manager issue, and with today's Boston Globe article, clearly a player issue--all adds up to a PR issue now.”