Terry Francona isn't sure how much blame Bobby Valentine deserves for the Red Sox' stinker of a season.
"When you have a record, I think it's an organizational record, whether it's a success or a failure," the former Red Sox manager and current ESPN analyst said Thursday on 'SportsCenter'. "I think it always has to be 'we', and I think general manager Ben Cherington kind of owned up to that earlier. It can't just be one person."
But he saw some things he didn't agree with this year.
Like constant airing of dirty laundry.
"The one thing that bothered me a little bit was that everything seemed to play out in public," he said. "There's a lot of stuff that happens in clubhouses during a season -- and that's not the worst thing -- but you find a way to fight through them and make it better. When you do it publicly, it's harder to make it better. And that seemed to happen quite frequently."
And Valentine's complaints about some of his coaches . . . some of whom worked under Francona.
"Those are some coaches with some pretty high integrity," said Francona, who later added: "Different strokes for different strokes. If I had a problem with a coach, I would go tell them. I'm not sure I would choose to do it on the radio. But, again, everybody's personalty's different."
Boston Red Sox
Now that it's over, Francona isn't sure what Valentine's legacy in Boston will end up being.
"I don't know," he said. "And I think part of that will depend on how he decides to go out. Again, there's going to be the post-mortems, and I know all about that. That's not fun in Boston. Because they always want to know the reasons, and if they don't know they'll make some up."
But one thing he's sure of: Valentine's successor isn't walking into a talent wasteland.
"I . . . think the glass is way more half-full than probably the normal Red Sox fan feels today," he said.
"You start off right away with Felix Doubront, Lester, Buchholz, John Lackey -- I know they don't want to hear that, but Lackey's coming back after Tommy John surgery -- that's four pitchers, right now, that I'll take my chances with . . . Andrew Bailey comes back healthy. Dustin Pedroia is a tremendous player. Will Middlebrooks is a star in the making. Jacoby Ellsbury, a year ago was second in the MVP voting . . . And they have some money to work with . . .
"The glass, in my opinion, should be half-full."