Boston Red Sox: 3 Reasons for Optimism Despite Buster Olney's 'Toxic' Report

ESPN’s Buster Olney reported Sunday that the Boston Red Sox clubhouse is "toxic." David Ortiz, who has become a much more outspoken leader as of late (and is admittedly tight with Olney), vehemently disagrees.

“I run this (expletive) clubhouse right here," Ortiz said, according to Joe McDonald of ESPN Boston. "This clubhouse has no problem. The last problem this clubhouse had was last year when everything came down to what it was in (September), but since then everybody’s cool and everybody’s trying their best to win games. Everybody’s on the same page right now and we’re waiting for those guys who are injured to come back so our team gets into beast mode.”

God Bless you David Ortiz—you’ll assuredly land in Red Sox heaven one day. Your talk of owning the clubhouse and the Red Sox entering beast mode feels like Heidi Watney whispering sweet nothings into my ear.

While I don’t spend enough time inside the Red Sox clubhouse to be able to report on whether or not the atmosphere is toxic, I have a hunch that Olney is beating a dead horse this time around, trying to make an old story the current story.

I’m sure there is displeasure among some of the players, but I think the picture he’s painting is likely well off-base. They’re above .500, and they’re positioned to make a significant splash in the second half of the season. But toxic or not, I think that the Red Sox have three major reasons to be optimistic.

The Return of the Outfield

Many forget that last season Jacoby Ellsbury was second in AL MVP voting—only a pitcher beat him out for the award. He’s the Red Sox's spark plug, and his offense, defense and baserunning will be a major boost for the squad.

Sure, Carl Crawford struggled last year, but every report out there cited that he had a great offseason—at the very least, Crawford’s speed will be a great addition to the lineup.

With these guys coming back in the near future, the Red Sox have an additional two studs in their outfield. Better yet, they’ve got a stable of other outfielders who have played well in their absence and have proven that they can contribute. Ryan Sweeney and Cody Ross are day-to-day players almost anywhere else, and Daniel Nava and Ryan Kalish add even more depth if someone goes down.

The Bullpen

So much has been made of the Red Sox bullpen, but they’ve really performed well as of late. Andrew Miller, Matt Albers and Franklin Morales have all exceeded expectations out of the pen—Albers and Miller both have ERAs under 2.00. Better yet, Andrew Bailey (our true closer) should be returning soon.

Kevin Youkilis

There’s no doubt that Kevin Youkilis has been lousy this year, and I hate to say it, but I think it’s time for him to move on.

Let me make on thing clear—Kevin Youkilis is not the problem here. Few players have played harder for the Sox, he’s great defensively and he’s made a career out of being one of the most difficult outs in baseball.

I think it’s fair to say that almost every Red Sox fan has huge respect for Youkilis and his contributions to the team. That said, I’ve seen enough of Will Middlebrooks to call him the future of the Red Sox at third base. Adrian Gonzalez belongs at first and not in the outfield, leaving Youkilis as the odd man out.

I’d want to make room for him, except for the fact that he and Bobby Valentine (not to mention Josh Beckett) seem to not get along. Youk is a proud guy, a stubborn guy, and I don’t see him pushing his feelings aside.

With so many potential suitors for Youk, the Red Sox could get something pretty valuable for him in return—hopefully in the form of pitching. It’ll be unfortunate to see him leave, but I think it’s the right move.

With three All-Stars set to return to the lineup and one highly sought-after trade chip, the Red Sox are in a position to make a significant push toward David Ortiz’s “beast mode.”

The correlation between winning and clubhouse issues could not be more clear, and if the Red Sox get on a tear (as they did for most of the season last year) they could be a very tough team to beat.

Geoff Roberts is the Founder and Managing Editor of howiGit.com, a Boston sports blog.