McAdam: Same old story for Red Sox when things go wrong

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Scapegoating isn’t a new tactic for the Red Sox. In fact, it’s been fairly commonplace.

As soon as someone leaves the organization, the whispers and moans start. Things reached a new low when Terry Francona was forced out after 2011, and a series of ugly allegations followed.

So maybe it wasn’t a surprise what happened Monday at Fenway South when the annual owners' press conference devolved into an exercise in finger-pointing, with former manager John Farrell and former hitting coach Chili Davis being blamed for everything except the cramped seating at Fenway and lack of affordable parking near the ballpark.

To hear John Henry tell it, the Red Sox might just now be wrapping up a parade to celebrate another World Series victory were it not for Farrell and Davis.

The fact that Chris Sale bellyflopped in his first postseason start? Irrelevant. David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, Dustin Pedroia and Steven Wright missing big chunks of the season? Incidental.

Nope. Now, it can be told: the Red Sox would be ruling kings of baseball if only Farrell and Davis had not messed things up.

With another manager and hitting coach, the Red Sox would have been rocketing balls out of Fenway and every other ballpark. They would have gone from the bottom of the league in homers, right to the top.

But, tragically, they were being led astray by the manager and hitting coach.

“I think that we would have had significant power last year if we had had a different approach,’’ theorized Henry. “That’s my opinion. It may not be true, but I think we have a very good offense.’’

Part of the issue was the team was too passive at the plate, exhibiting patience when other teams were being far more aggressive.

“I think it was evident,’’ Henry said. ‘’I don’t think we were nearly aggressive enough and I think our approach was lacking for a good part of the season.’’

It’s easy to take issue with an offensive philosophy. But to suggest that the Red Sox, with the exact same personnel, would have seen their home run totals skyrocket if only they had swung earlier in the count, is lunacy.

This absurd line of thinking got introduced when Henry and chairman Tom Werner were asked whether the team had done enough to improve the team this offseason.

This resulted in further pretzel logic: We don’t need to improve; we fixed what ailed us when he canned the manager and replaced most of the coaching staff. Problem solved.

You could argue that the Sox shouldn’t increase their offer to J.D. Martinez, in the absence of any better proposals. Doing so would be an example of bidding against themselves. But to suggest the team has done all the improving it needed by changing staff members is disingenuous at best.

Then, Henry quickly pointed out the Sox stand to have the highest payroll in the game for 2018, which is true enough, but nothing the Sox should be boasting about.

Why? Because while you can’t criticize the Red Sox for their willingness to spend money, it’s certainly reasonable to ask whether that money has been spent wisely.

By any measure, it has not. The team will pay Pablo Sandoval almost $20 million this season to not play for them. And they’ll do it again next year, too.

Meanwhile, Rusney Castillo will earn $12 million this season at Pawtucket. He may well be the best option to serve as the team’s fourth outfielder in the majors, but that won’t happen because then Castillo’s overpriced deal will count against the competitive balance tax (CBT) and the Sox want to have more payroll flexibility.

Finally, the Sox will pay Hanley Ramirez $22 million this season, with the underlying hope he doesn’t reach 497 plate appearances, in which case they’ll be paying him that sum again in 2019.

So, yes, the Red Sox are spending lots of money. But so do drunken sailors on leave.

And, it should be noted, this is the same ownership/management group that didn’t think it necessary to replace David Ortiz for 2017, somehow believing that losing their best offensive player wouldn’t impact their ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark and score runs.

Instead, they blamed the manager and hitting coach.

I thought Farrell was a better manager than he was often given credit for, and in time, I think his record of three division titles and a championship in five seasons will be looked upon far more favorably. But I also concede that he made several major missteps last season, including – but not limited to – the clumsy Manny Machado mess, and failing to take charge following Price vs. Dennis Eckersley.

If you want to suggest he had lost the clubhouse and was responsible for some internal issues inside, I won’t argue.

But this notion that the Sox were a homer-hitting juggernaut being limited by their manager and hitting coach is ridiculous.

And sadly, in keeping with recent tradition, all too predictable