Another Willson Contreras tantrum isn't what Red Sox leadership looks like

Somehow, getting swept out of the postseason by their arch rivals for the second straight year wasn't even the most concerning part of the Boston Red Sox' week. In the wake of a season-ending, 9-2 loss to the New York Yankees in Game 2 on Wednesday night, it became abundantly clear that something was very wrong in Boston's clubhouse. Sonny Gray — hardly one for public confrontation — couldn't hide how angry he was at being pulled by manager Chad Tracy with two outs in the fifth inning, throwing his future with the team into doubt.

And of course, whenever there's drama with the Red Sox these days, Willson Contreras is never far behind. Sure enough, Boston's first baseman did not miss an opportunity to express his displeasure — not just with the loss, but apparently with the entire direction of the organization under Tracy and president Craig Breslow. Asked how the Sox went from 41-13 across a two-month stretch from June to August to one of the worst offenses in baseball in September, he said a whole lot without saying much of anything:

And then, despite having previously said he didn't want to give an honest answer about what was broken in Boston, Contreras ... sure seemed to be pretty honest about how much he hates "data" and "computers".

I'm not here to pick yet another fight about the place of "analytics" in baseball today (or even whether "analytics" is a meaningful framework at all, which it isn't). At this point, if you're convinced that the nerds are ruining your favorite team, I'm not going to convince you otherwise. But no matter which side of that divide you fall on, Contreras is the absolute last person Red Sox fans should want delivering this message.

Willson Contreras isn't the right voice to lead Red Sox into a new era

It would be one thing if this were a long-standing veteran with considerable clubhouse equity delivering a message to the front office that things needed to change, that they'd done something to lose their players.

Contreras has been in Boston for less than a year, and while he was undeniably the team's best hitter and a huge reason why they made it to October at all, he also spent most of that time finding ways to create distractions for his teammates. This is the same guy who touched off a benches-clearing incident for no particular reason in Milwaukee, who managed to stir up drama on a rehab assignment, who took 30-plus seconds to round the bases after a home run on Wednesday night — while still down a run.

He's a tremendous player, one who Boston will need if they want to advance further next October. (He has one more guaranteed year on his deal in 2027, plus a team option for 2028). Is this really the guy you want as the primary voice in your clubhouse, though? Is there any evidence that Contreras actually knows what's wrong with the Red Sox, or how the team should fix it this offseason? What, exactly, did "data" do to tank this season? Pulling Gray early was a very questionable decision, but there's no reason to think that Tracy was guided by "analytics" — whatever you take that to mean — in making it, and a moribund offense is the far bigger reason why Boston is headed home for the winter.

None of that matters to Contreras, though. What matters, what has always mattered, is that he finds somebody to nurse a grudge against, somebody who can make clear that whatever went wrong isn't his fault. His bat is invaluable, but at a certain point, it can't keep coming with all this other baggage, and just because Red Sox fans are similarly frustrated right now doesn't mean he knows something everybody else doesn't.

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