The 11 Biggest Losers from the Boston Red Sox Meltdown

I was one of the many baseball fans around the league who picked the Boston Red Sox to win the 2011 World Series. And like many, I was shocked to see them fold the last month of the season and allow the Tampa Bay Rays to take their place in the MLB postseason.

The Boston Red Sox September meltdown in 2011 was the worst in Major League Baseball history and the insider information has been seeping through, possibly telling the real story behind the Sox collapse.

Scapegoats and smears have been made, creating a whirlwind of bad news about players and even their former manager, Terry Francona.

Here's a look back at the 11 biggest losers of the Red Sox 2011 September meltdown.

Jonathan Papelbon

As the Tampa Bay Rays were completing a seven-run comeback to tie the game against the Yankees, the Red Sox were on the verge of guaranteeing at least a chance for a one-game playoff to make the MLB postseason.

Jonathan Papelbon was on the mound against the Baltimore Orioles with a chance to close the game out with a one-run lead. After striking out his first two batters, it seemed Papelbon was going to cruise through the ninth.

Watching the Rays-Yankees game, the crowd began to go berserk at the sight of Papelbon inexplicably blowing the save and walking off the field at Camden Yards with his head down.

Not long after, Evan Longoria smashed a solo home run, putting the Rays in the playoffs.

What might be one of the most painful facts about the meltdown was the fact that the Sox had a one-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth with a chance to extend their season.

But Papelbon blew it. Tough to swallow if you're a Red Sox fan.

Now with his impending free agency, Papelbon's future with the Red Sox is in doubt and his blown save to end the season may be the last thing he ever does with Boston.

Adrian Gonzalez

For the majority of the season, Adrian Gonzalez looked as though he would be a sure-fire AL MVP in 2011. He had a great season, driving in 117 runs and sported a batting average of .338.

Those numbers would have been good enough to get him the MVP, and all that was left was for the Sox to make the playoffs; something normally necessary for a player to complete his MVP season.

They obviously didn't do that. 

Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson had better numbers than Gonzalez with the exception of average, so it was important to see where both teams ended up.

It was bad enough for Gonzalez's campaign that the Yankees would win the AL East, but it got even worse after the Rays took the AL Wild Card.

Instead of completing their march to the playoffs and ensuring his award, the Red Sox epically collapsed and most likely erased all chances Gonzalez would get the honor.

I guess you could say the Sox falling apart might have handed the MVP trophy to someone else.

Terry Francona

In what is the most surprising news to come from the Boston Red Sox meltdown is the alleged smear campaign pitted against former manager, Terry Francona.

It has been reported that Francona was distracted with marital issues and even had a problem with painkillers during the 2011 season. Former Red Sox great Curt Schilling has come to Francona's defense and accused his old team of "character assassination."

The picture painted of Francona after this information was leaked is not a pretty one. It was an ugly way to end the tenure of maybe the greatest manager in Red Sox history.

Francona has been no doubt dragged through the mud after this historic collapse. You would've hoped for a better ending with the manager that brought two World Series rings to Boston after 86 years without one. 

But, that wasn't to be. Francona was going to have to answer for his team falling apart and since a GM can't fire 25 guys, the manager had to go.

No question it was a puzzling move to say the least, but that didn't stop Francona from becoming a victim of his team's demise.

Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz

I know it says four names on the title of this slide, but that's because I consider these four clowns as one.

My reason? They might all share one brain.

In more light-hearted news (that is if your not a Red Sox fan), stories have also been released that Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz often played video games together while eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during their days off.

And yes, this did occur while the September meltdown was going on.

Now, I know this behavior is pretty normal in baseball clubhouses in one form or another, but it's just more fuel to throw on the fire of what would normally be a non-story if it wasn't connected to history.

Also helping feed the flame, the same report claims Sox strength and conditioning coach, Dave Page, encouraged his four best pitchers to start working harder on conditioning and being prepared to pitch. The four were also accused of being distant from their teammates throughout.

All of these allegations are frustrating if you're a fan and will no doubt hurt the reputation of a  lifer like Jon Lester and a respected hurler like Josh Beckett.

John Lackey's reputation is about shot in Boston as it could be and this might have been the last straw. And as for Buchholz, he was battling injuries all year and the fact he might have shown a lack of interest in conditioning and preparation makes it downright embarrassing for the young starter.

None of these guys came out clean in this instance and their seeming laziness will certainly be tacked on as another reason the Red Sox collapsed.

John Henry and Red Sox Management

John Henry and the Red Sox upper management have been accused by many of creating a "smear campaign" against Terry Francona and other members of the team.

Their goal? To come out smelling like roses if their somewhat drastic and unpopular decisions didn't work out. Henry has denied that he or anyone from upper management are apart of any "smear campaign."

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"Ultimately, if there were team sources involved, they do work for us. Did it come from John (Henry), (chairman) Tom (Werner) or (CEO) Larry (Lucchino)? No," Henry told Boston radio 98.5 The Sports Hub on Friday.

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If this is all true, it's certainly not an appealing place to manage if you want your personal things to be just that, personal. Obviously it won't stop managers from coming to Boston, but it may make some of the bigger names think twice before they choose the Sox over another team.

If it wasn't Henry and upper management who leaked this information, then it appears the Red Sox have a few leaks they need to plug up before moving forward.

Either way, it's not the type of reputation you want to put out there if you're looking for a top-flight manager to take over a messy situation.

Carl Crawford

Carl Crawford's "loser" status comes from not just one month of bad baseball, but an entire season of it.

Crawford inked a seven-year, $142 million contract when he signed as a free agent with the Red Sox. The contract alone has created what might be impossible expectations for him.

Don't get me wrong, Crawford is as talented as they come, but at $20 million a year? That's the type of money sluggers get paid, not speedy lead-off hitter types.

Crawford struggled for the majority of the year and didn't live up to the money in his first season. He hit .255 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI. It was a season that was a far cry from 2010 when he hit .307 with 19 homers and 90 RBI.

He also missed 24 games in 2011, adding injury to insult in this case.

Was it just a bad season; something many players have during their career? Or was it another small town player succumbing to the pressure of a big city like Boston.

One thing's for certain: Crawford is off to a very tough start in Boston and has expectations he may never fulfill.

Tim Wakefield

Being that 2011 was the year Tim Wakefield got his 200th career win, you may be puzzled as to why he's on this list, but just hear me out before you drop me a negative comment.

Wakefield's pursuit of 200 wins began on July 29th and ended nine appearances later on September 13th. During that span, Wakefield started eight games and had a single relief appearance.

This is one instance where Francona can be blamed.

In his attempt to get the fan favorite Wakefield his junior milestone achievement, Francona may have hurt his own team by not having his best on the mound.

Wakefield may be a nice guy, but he isn't the same caliber of pitcher he once was that deserved all those opportunities to start this season.

Wakefield's ERA was five or more in every month of the season except for May, where he posted a 3.51 ERA. Those are not the numbers of a pitcher who deserves to be in the rotation, let alone for a quickly tightening pennant race where collapse looks imminent.

During the month of September, when the Sox were dead smack in the middle of their historic collapse and needed him most, Wakefield posted a record of 1-2 and a 5.25 ERA.

If Wakefield hadn't been going for his 200th win, Terry Francona might have started someone else and picked up a few more wins with a more effective pitcher. Those wins would have put the Red Sox into the playoffs.

Marco Scutaro

It was a play that was one of the more underrated events of the entire Red Sox collapse. I'm talking about Marco Scutaro getting thrown out at home on the last game of the season against the Orioles.

Scutaro had a chance to score in the seventh inning of that game to give Boston a two-run cushion, but was thrown out at the plate after a stutter-step going to third.

Scutaro's slight hesitation cost the Red Sox an insurance run and could have changed the fortunes of Boston had he made it home safely.

Now is that to say things would have been different?

Of course not, but you can bet it obviously would have put the Sox in a better position. A two-run lead is a huge difference when your closer has issues. With the insurance, the Red Sox might have been able to escape that ninth with at worst, a tie.

I'm sure Red Sox fans would have taken that over the alternative and not having Scutaro's run cost them that chance.

David Ortiz

David Ortiz may be a little better off than most on this list as he seems to be eyeing a different place to call home in 2012 after becoming a free agent. In an interview with ESPN's Colleen Dominguez, Ortiz made it clear he wouldn't mind wearing a Yankees hat next season.

Despite positive prospects for Big Papi, he still doesn't get out of this one unscathed.

In the midst of failure, David Ortiz admitted it was time to panic in regards to a possible collapse of the Red Sox. It might have been foreshadowing, a look into the window that was the drama of the 2011 Boston Red Sox.

Regardless of why he said it, it was shocking words coming from a guy who had been apart of a team that came back from an 0-3 deficit against the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. You'd think he would have a bit more faith than that.

Ortiz had always been known as a leader in the clubhouse in Boston, but that didn't seem to be a great leader in that case. It certainly isn't the tone you want to set on your own team when they are struggling towards the end of the season.

Theo Epstein

Rumors of Theo Epstein's departure from Boston have been circulating for quite some time now. It was no surprise that he moved on from the Red Sox to take over a position in Chicago with the Cubs.

Epstein will reportedly have more control over the Cubs than he did with the Red Sox, but it will still be a tough transition for him.

The Red Sox were no doubt a great job for Epstein as he looked like the Boy Wonder, bringing home a World Series twice in his tenure, breaking an 86-year "curse" in the process.

Still, the signings of John Lackey, Carl Crawford and other ghosts of contracts past will be brought back to life after the Sox made the worst kind of history in 2011. There will even be critics of Epstein who will use his questionable signings and this collapse as ammunition against moves he makes in the future.

Sure every GM has good and bad signings, but people's memories are short and it's often the case that the more recent, bad moves are always remembered most.

Epstein will be leaving a ready-made job with much less work to be done in Boston when he joins the Cubs who need a ton of work in 2012. The Cubs have an ever bigger drought than what Theo inherited in Boston and he will no doubt have his hands full proving himself in Chicago.

There's no telling if Theo would have stayed past this year if the Sox didn't collapse. He may have wanted to leave anyway, but there is no arguing that Epstein would have had an easier time repairing the Red Sox rather than rebuilding the Cubs.

Red Sox Fans

As is the case with any team's epic failures, it's always the fans who are the biggest victims. And the fans in Boston are no different.

While no doubt it was a frustrating finish to the season, the multi-million dollar athletes get to go back to their lavish lifestyles and enjoy their money in the offseason. Meanwhile, fans are left to their own devices, depressed, thinking about what could have been.

While guys are drinking beer and playing video games in the clubhouse, not taking their job seriously and making money they don't deserve, fans live and die with every pitch. We may be able to question the heart and integrity of some players, fans on the other hand, never waiver.

Perhaps if some of the guys on the Red Sox roster had the type of dedication their fans did, Boston would be fighting for a World Series. Instead, the Sox have deprived their fans of a playoff-run for another season.

It will be a long winter for fans. There may be questions about which of Boston's free agents will return, but there is no doubt that come February, Red Sox fans will be back, ready to cheer for their favorite team again.