NYDN: Shoppach Wrote Message To Ownership, Not Gonzalez

Andy Martino and Roger Rubin, Daily News:

Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was not the author of the now-infamous text message to Boston ownership complaining about manager Bobby Valentine, although it was sent from his cell phone, major league sources told the Daily News.

Those sources also said new Mets catcher Kelly Shoppach was deeply involved in writing the message that touched off the latest Sox drama, but Shoppach would not confirm that charge.

A small group of players that has been unhappy with Valentine this season — a group that included Shoppach, according to a source familiar with the circumstances — was complaining about the manager in late July and engaged Gonzalez in the conversation. A member of the group suggested that the only way to bring about action would be to voice their problems to ownership. Gonzalez was tired of hearing the constant grumbling and agreed with them that a message from him — the team's highest-paid player — would get management's attention.

Several sources say Gonzalez had nothing to do with the message's content ... "The text message was not his idea or his opinion . . . or his words," one said. Those were from the small group of players that included Shoppach.

Asked about the authoring of the text message following Saturday's game at Yankee Stadium, Gonzalez said, "I know why you're asking, but we're not going to talk about that anymore."

On Saturday at Nationals Park, Shoppach denied any involvement in sending the text message, insisting, "I don't know what you're talking about." But on Tuesday when the Yahoo! report was published, Shoppach was asked about it and said of the Red Sox organization, "Let me be very careful. I think, and maybe this is as far as I'll go with it, too, there is a disconnect in communication between the players through the upper management."