Every team has pricks. It really is up to guys who have been labeled clubhouse leaders - Pedroia, Papi, Pap, Beckett - and perhaps one or two others who have the on field cred (Ellsbury) to step up and shut down the dickheads. If ownership is willing to let Francona go because he couldn't get to some guys, I think some of the whiners may go, too. More likely, however, it will mean bringing in a manager who can both lay down the law as well as be a master psychologist/motivator. That was Lombardi's true gift (along with prescient game-planning): he knew very quickly who on his team needed positive reinforcement, who needed to be cajoled a bit, and who needed to be treated like a junkyard dog.

I do wish Maddon was available. I don't want Torre or a puppet of the front office. Sadly, I wonder if Tito's failure will exclude by association Demarlo Hale. Don't know anything about how he handles a clubhouse (or some of the others being bandied about (Dave Martinez, et al), but a team of veterans will have to have someone they respect. The title alone doesn't give the new guy cred or authority (see Kerrigan, Joe).