Never underestimate the power of team chemistry in sports. Sometimes a team’s attitude and cooperation dictates its’ success more than any other factors.
Take the Boston Red Sox as a case in point. During the Terry Francona era (2004-2011), the team was a perennial contender in the American League, winning two World Series and making the playoffs in five of the eight years. They did it because they not only had star power, but they also had great team chemistry.
They called themselves the “idiots” and united behind leaders like Jason Varitek, Kevin Millar, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. The players played for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. They loved playing for the Boston Red Sox. They had each other’s backs during bench-clearing brawls and respected their manager. So what happened?
Somewhere along the way, Theo Epstein and the front office got away from their philosophy of building successful Red Sox teams with a strong farm system and good team chemistry. Epstein and ownership started giving away huge contracts to star free agents like Carl Crawford (7-years/$142 million), Adrian Gonzalez (7-years/$154 million), and John Lackey (5-years/$82.5 million). These players were brought in because of their impressive stats. Going into 2011, the Red Sox looked like one of the greatest teams ever on paper.
The team collapsed on itself, going 7-20 in September. We found out later that Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester and others had been eating chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games. Terry Francona, the laissez-faire players’ manager who had been so successful for so long, was blamed for the disaster and fired immediately. The owners brought in a much stricter Bobby Valentine to manage the team.
All the while, Epstein bolted “Beantown” for another rebuilding project, the Chicago Cubs.
Valentine was a bad manager, and he only got worse as 2012 progressed. He called out Kevin Youkilis early in the year, questioning his “commitment to the team.” Youkilis was traded mid-season. Valentine alienated many of the players and even his own coaching staff with his strict, authoritative leadership style. This management philosophy may have worked had the team actually respected Valentine, but it didn’t. Boston lost 93 games, the Sox’ worst record in 47 years.
Bobby Valentine was a bad manager, but he was not entirely to blame for the team’s failure in 2012.
My theory is that the players were paid way too much and did not respect their team or their manager. It started in 2011 when the team began disrespecting Francona, and continued through 2012 when they respected Valentine even less.
The team’s bad attitude in 2012 was symbolized by their lack of attendance at Johnny Pesky’s funeral early in August. Only four Red Sox players showed up. Four.
Cherington and ownership recognized that there was a problem and set out to fix it this past offseason. They brought in John Farrell, who had been Francona’s pitching coach, to manage the team. Gonzalez, Beckett and Crawford were traded to the Dodgers on August 26 and Valentine was fired the day after the season ended. Gritty team players such as Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, and Mike Napoli were brought in.
Seventeen games into the 2013 season, the Boston Red Sox look like a whole new team. The team chemistry has clearly improved drastically. The pitching staff is breaking records and the Sox are tied for the best record in the American League with the Texas Rangers at 14-7.
Like the players that had each other’s backs during brawls a decade ago, these players care about each other, their team and their city. After the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon Monday 10 days ago, the team became a symbol of hope for a city that was in despair. They are embracing the “Boston Strong” mantra and they truly care about the tragedy.
Less than a year after the embarrassing attendance at Pesky’s funeral, the Red Sox are showing more passion than I’ve ever seen. When he got the last out in the eighth inning during a game in Cleveland this week, Koji Uehara yelled and ran into the dugout where he was greeted by high-fives from everybody.
On Friday, David Ortiz delivered a rousing speech to the Boston fans before the first game at Fenway since the tragedy:
[quote]“This jersey that we wear today, it doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston. We want to thank you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department, for the great job that they did this past week. This is our f–king city! And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”[/quote]
It’s still early in the season, but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the 2013 Boston Red Sox. Dramatically improved team chemistry is just one of them.