Silverman: Red Sox Clubhouse Still Housing A "Snitch"

This isn't the kind of thing we discuss at Over the Monster very often, but it seems to be the story of the afternoon with the Red Sox. According to the Boston Herald's Michael Silverman, the Red Sox "still have a snitch problem on their hands." If you're unfamiliar with the snitch timeline, allow me.

In spring training, Josh Beckett not-so-quietly called out whoever it was that ratted the pitchers out to the media for Bob Hohler's investigative article that ran in the Boston Globe following Boston's elimination from playoff contention in 2011. It was understandable, even if, at the time, you were kind of just wishing everyone would stop talking about it -- Boston wasn't the only team to eat bad food and drink beer in the clubhouse, but because they lost game 162, it became this incredibly important point of discontent with many media members and fans, something that turned many Red Sox players (and manager Terry Francona) into history's greatest monster(s). Beckett, and presumably others, took issue with the fact that this was all leaked for a story.

Some believed Kevin Youkilis, who was accused of sowing some discontent within the clubhouse before his departure, might have been responsible, but there's no proof of either the spreading of discontent or his being a snitch. There's currently proof he wasn't the snitch, at least, as manager Bobby Valentine has said that this troublemaker remains -- Youkilis is in Chicago, so despite his reported unhappiness, it wasn't him.

Now, why is Valentine mentioning this? Because said tipster went after Bobby V at some point, and nearly all of the blame for clubhouse unrest continues to be considered the fault of Valentine. He's a little defensive about all of the finger pointing. You could say that they're just unhappy with Valentine, but remember: Beckett said there was a narc before Valentine was ever hired, too.

The assumption here is that it's a player, as that's how Silverman's club source tells it. I won't pretend to know who it is, or what their motives are, but it's a bit disconcerting that someone took issue with the end of Terry Francona's tenure, has been unhappy with the entirety of Valentine's, and is still around in the clubhouse to continue to voice that displeasure. It's disconcerting for a few reasons: who is this player, what is their deal, and also, because you just know that more is going to be made of this than the story likely deserves. Believe me, this isn't a cry to cleanse the clubhouse of the offending whistle-blower; it's more of a sigh in type that this is even a thing to begin with.

There's enough going on when it comes to the game on the field. This side drama stuff is just too much, even if it does exist, and it's ridiculous that we're still hearing about it nearly a year after the initial explosion.