Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette will arrive on campus Friday to receive a Distinguished Achievement Award from the University. While that's nice, if he really wants to distinguish himself he can come up with a solution to the Carl Everett saga, because it seems the oft-criticized Red Sox GM is in a lose-lose situation on this one.
Reports surfaced this week in the Boston Globe that Everett, signed through the 2002 season, would demand a trade in the wake of ongoing flack received for his questionable behavior. But Everett's agent denied the rumors, the Associated Press said, claiming he had no idea how the Globe came up with the story. Fabricated or not, though, Duquette is certainly not sleeping easy over what to do about Everett, the new Latrell Sprewell of Major League Baseball.
Duquette can't avoid a decision, because even if he and the Sox stand pat and keep both Everett and manager Jimy Williams on board, that's acting by not acting. Everett and Williams hate each other's guts, and keeping both of them would mean he feels the lack of chemistry does not necessarily spell disaster.
One thing is clear in all this: Everett is not going to be shipped out of town for being a bad boy. If he goes, it's because management honestly feels the situation would be better without him and the compensation would be attractive. You'd have to be pretty naive to think Everett would be traded simply because he's got a bad rap. If that's the case, guys like him and Sprewell and Belle would never get a job.
And Duquette said as much earlier this season, upsetting Williams by arguing that Everett shouldn't be judged by his actions off the field. But the turbulence spilled onto the diamond this summer in the form of an Everett-to-umpire Ron Kulpa chestbump incident after the two argued over Everett's footing on the batters box line. And his ongoing feud with Williams, not helped by the media attention, has seemingly made the relationship between player and coach irreconcilable. Williams is considered a player's coach, a guy who demands respect from his athletes and treats them the same way. It's a lesson Everett doesn't much care for, but what it comes down to is whether it's a lesson that affects the wins column.
So what do the Red Sox do? The options are not compelling.
On the one hand, Everett's a cancer. Few of his teammates like him and his manager sure wouldn't mind seeing him go. Everett has a rep ? and much deserved one at that ? for being intense, confrontational, and an all-around bad influence on "team chemistry." That has to affect games, and maybe it even did so this year - his numbers went down significantly after the umpire incident, and the team slipped out of the playoff picture. Off the field, his behavior has been questioned too, particularly with respect to the disciplining of his children.
But chemistry isn't always a necessary ingredient to success. Just ask a club like the early-'70s Oakland Athletics, who won three straight World Series while hating each other's guts. Sheer talent is at least equally important, and Everett has loads of that. When it comes down to it, the Sox can hardly afford to lose a player like Everett unless the compensation is equally talented, and not many teams would take on such a risk in exchange for a top-notch player. So keeping the guy may just be inevitable. Other than Everett and a certain shortstop named Nomar, the Sox were hurting for offense this season.
Everett comes off a big year, possibly his best ever. He hit a career-high 34 homers and tied a career-high with 108 RBIs, missing 25 games along the way.
Nomar led the league with a .372 batting average.
That pretty much comprises the offense worth noting.
It's surprising, because the '00 team was not drastically different from the '99 version that reached the American League Championship Series, with the exception of Everett and some midseason acquisitions in Rolando Arrojo, Jeff Frye, Mike Lansing, Rico Brogna and Dante Bichette. But the slumbering offense was clearly not Everett's fault ? his numbers along speak to that.
Attribute the batting problems to guys like Jose Offerman and Brian Daubach, integral parts of last season's 94-win campaign who disappeared in 2000. Plus Duquette didn't exactly pull a Steinbrenner by bringing in Lansing, Arrojo, and company at the trading deadline. Boston was 13 out of 14 AL teams with a .266 batting average, as well as 12th in runs scored and 11th in home runs. So Everett may be a cancer, but he's a cancer with a much-needed bat.
The other option is to can Williams, but that's probably not going to happen, although all could change pending the new ownership structure. 2001 marks the final year of Williams' contract, and he would become the first manager to head the Red Sox for five straight seasons since Joe Cronin in 1935-1947.
Williams is liked by his players and generally by the city, and the problem is certainly not his fault. Would another manager be capable of becoming Everett's best friend? Probably not. Williams is criticized for his stubbornness and for shuffling the lineup too much, but if Duquette would supply him with effective batters, and one who are not maniacs at that, he'd probably get his team past the stumbling block known as the Yankees.
When Duquette mildly defended Everett, he more than offended Williams, who publicly questioned his future with the Sox. Duquette may or may not be right with his words, but he put himself in an awkward position because he also said it wasn't in the plans to ditch Williams.
So, the general manager has three options: keep both of them, let Williams go, or let Everett go. He probably didn't envision such a problem when Everett came on board from Florida a year ago. He should've realized the guy has played for four teams in eight seasons for a reason.
