"Most of the players sat at their lockers silently, holding a beer in their hand."

This was the sentence that got me, since I remembered that Bobby V. had issued a ban. But when I looked it up I saw that the ban was only for the home clubhouse and "on the last leg of a road trip."

What a strange policy...

I think it's not that unusual, and reasonable. No beer when they're going to be driving, but they can when it's provided by the home team and they're being driven to a hotel for the night.

Rather a cheap shot at Ryan Braun that your one unnamed source made. I am no Braun fan, and no Brewers fan, but come on, he's not the only guy who's running out of steam as the end of the season approaches.

Yunel Escobar is under contract for the next few years, so that comment about him being "gone at the end of the year" is mis-informed.

Pitching scared for the very bad Marlins and bad Cubs with a history of abyssmal run support is what has shot the confidence of Chris Volstad to this point. His remaining 9 starts will dictate his future.

Two thoughts on the Red Sox stuff.

First, the players brought the management change (and all the subsequent rules, be they overkill or not) on themselves. If they win games, nothing else matters. But they didn't win.

Second, while I expect the mainstream press to use anonymous quotes as a way to stir up controversy, I regard BP as more of a thinking man's site. I can handle seeing an anonymous scout's take on a player. But the anonymous former Red Sox player piling on just isn't worth paying for, IMO.

My 2 cents.

An ex-player said "I don't care what they're saying publicly (in light of the Yahoo! Sports story); those guys hate playing for Bobby Valentine. Management really made a bad decision when they hired him. You're taking a veteran team that played for the best player's manager in the game in (Francona) and replacing him with a guy who threw the most-respected player in that clubhouse under the bus? There's no way that is every going to work.">>>>And after Francona was fired Jon Lester said...” Terry Francona wasn’t the right guy for the job anymore, that “[his] authority [was] no longer there” and that the Red Sox “needed more structure” in the clubhouse.”..They threw Francona under the bus..A bunch of hypocrites.

Perhaps the Red Sox do indeed have a "disharmonious" clubhouse, but John's observation is not proof of that. My take on the situation he described is that this is a bunch of players who are very discouraged by the fact that their team cannot get on a roll, despite having what has been (perhaps erroneously) perceived to be enough talent to compete at a much higher level. I would be more worried if the players didn't take the losing so hard.

And, yes, injuries have played a major role in this team's inability to compete. At one point, the top SIX Sox outfielders were all on the DL at the same time. Pedroia was hurt, Youkilis and then Middlebrooks, and now Ortiz (the only consistent offensive force the team has had this year). The closer that they traded for has so far missed the entire season. But at the same time, several players have performed below reasonable expectations, including Gonzalez, Beckett, Lester, and of course the failed Bard experiment.

Bobby V. may or may not be a good manager; as we all know, it is very hard to tease out the contributions of any manager to the success or failure of an individual team. But the problems that the team has had this year go far beyond any manager's doorstep.

I agree. This is on the players- or I need someone to point to field decision(s) Valentine has made that lost games? Did anyone in the management boxes or the clubhouse think Bobby had turned into a diplomat? He has always been an acid-tongued motivator.

The Red Sox are a team in which the rot has spread too far. Yes, the injuries are really bad, but wasn't anyone paying attention to the deterioration of John Lackey last year, or Carl Crawford's health record, or Jon Lester's and Beckett's durability? And Youkilis has been fragile for a long time, and it caught up with him.

I also see the off- field manageent as a problem. Good clubs have smooth transitions in key roles. Boston has blown every such transition badly. Epstein to leave. The pay levels Henry and Lucchino agreed to created an overpriveleged tier of players who thought the club was about them, and that they were untouchable. These are all self-inflicted wounds. Rebuild? I don't think they have the aptitude.

"I appreciate him being a gamer and trying to be on the field every day after missing all that time with the broken wrist, but he can barely move on that bad right ankle. There's a fine line between being a gamer and hurting your team, and I think he's on the verge of crossing it."

On Jayson Werth:
How can he be hurting his team when he as batted .410/.510/.550 in the month of august. I know he is out right now Day to day with his ankel issue but a 500 on base is awsome. Just Saying......

Valentine makes a convenient scapegoat. Next year he can collect their money from his livingroom or from behind the bar at his restaurant. Either way, he won't have to deal with the prima donnas in that clubhouse.

I just want to make the comment that I loved reading this article. I enjoy scouts' short blurbs about a variety of players, as well as the organizational comments. Nice job collecting this, John.

As for the specific content, I LOVE the Ryan Braun quote. I am not rooting against Braun or anything like that . . . but I think there is merit in the comment and it makes us reflect more deeply on his 2011 MVP season. Of course, his 2 home runs through 4 innings tonight suggest that maybe he has woken up - we'll see.

I also enjoy the Ubaldo Jimenez quote. That is harsh criticism - talk about having one's professionalism questioned. Ouch.

So BP as the thinking man's website? And with all due respect, the author asks the following question of Bobby Valentine: "do you think David Ortiz would help?".

I get initiating conversation but I would also respond with a one word answer. Or, perhaps an inappropriate, two word answer.