Theo Epstein is quoted taking a shot at the Boston Red Sox in former manager's Terry Francona's new book, in which he claims the team was more into their image.
"Werner talked about slumping television ratings and whined, 'We need to start winning in more exciting fashion,'" Francona recalls in the excerpt.
"Francona: The Red Sox Years" is co-written by the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy and is scheduled for publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Jan. 22.
He later quotes Epstein as saying, "They told us we didn't have any marketable players, that we needed some sizzle. We need some sexy guys. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. This is like an absurdist comedy. We'd become too big. It was the farthest thing from what we set out to be. ... (That) was evidence to me of the inherent tension between building a baseball operation the way I thought was best and the realities of being in a big market ... which had gotten bigger than any of us could handle."
Francona left after the 2011 season, when the Red Sox lost 20 of their last 27 games, becoming the first team to lead by nine games in September and not make the postseason.
He said he believes that the Red Sox won't come off in a bad light, but the difficult conclusion to his tenure led to a similar tone towards the end of the book.
"The last chapter is hard because it was a hard ending," Francona said. "I'm sure there will be a thing or two that will piss somebody off that I didn't think would, but I've read it seven times and me and Dan made change after change because I wanted it to be good, I wanted it to be interesting and I also wanted it to preserve the clubhouse because I do believe in that so much."
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