Betts And Bogaerts Describe A Tense, Uncomfortable 2017 Clubhouse

Both Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts admitted yesterday that the 2017 Red Sox had a tense, problematic clubhouse.

Dan Shaughnessy wrote a column about it in Friday's Globe and (what a surprise!), he made it all about him (and the other writers) right off the bat:

So there. It's all true. We weren't making it up last summer/fall when we told you that the first-place 2017 Red Sox were sour, unhappy, dysfunctional, and headed for a fall. ...*

Betts:

I think we still enjoyed it. But we could have had more fun. Through the rough times, I think those are the times when we could have had a little more fun instead of being down so much. If we hit a rough patch this year, I feel like maybe we can learn from last year and continue to enjoy the game and maybe get out of it faster. ...

[There was] tension in the locker room as far as if things are down. ... I think this year will be a little different. I'm going to approach things a little differently as far as, if I'm not playing well or if we're losing or whatnot, I can do my best to try and find a way to get everybody back happy, smiling, excited and going to play. There were times where we lost a couple games in a row and we weren't necessarily down but we were kind of pressing to try and get back to the winning side instead of just letting it happen, letting the game play out. Especially late in the season when the gap started closing as far as the winner of the division.

Betts talked about moving forward without David Ortiz:

Nobody is him. So we have to find our niche in the clubhouse and figure out what works for us and how to get back to that. I knew it would be kinda tough. ... [L]ast year was definitely a learning curve. I think this year we're getting to kinda know how it works without him now. We may have him around a little bit but I think we have to work on just focusing on us and who's in the clubhouse and figuring out a way to lighten things up throughout the whole process. ... I think as a whole group it's just going to take four or five, six guys to kinda fill that one spot. It just lets you know how important he was.

Bogaerts recalled the 2013 team:

We were a lot like brothers, a lot like family on and off the field. All these years, I believe we have better teams, paperwise, namewise. [But] 2013, we were so close with each other. We had such a bond. You try to learn the stuff that they learned and [pass it] on to a guy like maybe Devers. I'm looking forward to it, to that challenge. ... We're all grown men. I definitely believe we all learn from last year. We had a lot of stuff going on last year, to be honest. We all live, learn and move forward. We can't just sit back and keep reminding ourselves about the past. That's not something we want to do.

When asked to elaborate on "a lot of stuff", Bogaerts replied: "I mean we all know. We all know what was going on. I don't think I really want to get into details."

Also: Hanley Ramirez promised to hit for more power in 2018.

You're gonna see it, for sure. Literally, I was hitting with one arm last year and I hit 23 [home runs]. Now that I feel good, there are not going to be excuses. Better go out there and hit 30.

* The CHB informed Betts that "the team [described elsewhere in the column as "a pack of sensitive, spoiled millennials"] isn't generating much buzz back home" and asked if Betts could do anything to fix that ... because ... well, all smart baseball fans know the team that generates the most "buzz" a day or two after spring training camps open in mid-February automatically wins the World Series. (No link to any CHB material will ever be provided here.)