A Real Page Turner
You Can't Fire Beckett, Lackey, and Lester
So Say Goodbye to the $80,000 Guy
The Plot Thickens Along With the Red Sox Waistlines:
Dave Page: Sox Player Can't Deny 'Pulling the Plug' on the Season
4 Players Fell Off the Conditioning Track | Team Wasn't Prepared to Play
Page: Superstitious, Out of Shape Beckett Cut Back on His Workouts
Scapegoat City: Ax Falls on Sox Strength and Conditioning Coach
12-Year Veteran Greg Barajas Also Whacked as Sox Trainer
Cherington Waiting for Liverpool to Announce Replacements
"I said, 'Hey, what's going on here? It seems like you've pulled the plug a little bit. Why?' He looked down at the ground and looked back at me and said, 'I don't know why. I can't answer that question.' [That] was kind of a shock...
"The bottom line is we weren't ready to play physically, fundamentally or mentally the way we should have been, like a championship team should have been...
"We got to the end of the year and we had four guys that we thought didn't make it to that part of the season where we hoped they would be..." -- Fired Red Sox strength and conditioning coach Dave Page on WEEI
"It's hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work." -- Source to the Globe's Bob Hohler in Oct. 12 story
Apparently John Henry no longer has a say in who stays: "... Talking to a few people, one thing thus far I�ve been able to establish is that the pitchers did their work. They did their cardiovascular. This organization is as good as any in baseball � I�m told � at doing their work. What is their work? Cardiovascular, shoulder exercise is very important, something we have very little in the way, in this organization, of shoulder problems, compared to other organizations, and they did their leg work. Some of the people, including the person you mentioned [Josh Beckett], are adamant � that�s what they do. They don�t shirk those responsibilities...
"Were there nutritional issues? That�s another question I asked. Yes, I believe there were nutritional issues. One of the things we�ve learned in getting involved with English football is they have sports science, and the science of fitness is very advanced among football (soccer) teams around the world, at least the top football teams. We�ve learned a lot recently, and our people within the Red Sox have learned a lot. There�s much more we can do." -- John Henry on WEEI, Oct. 2011
