Dustin Pedroia put it well after last night's debacle in Texas. "This is the big leagues. They executed, we didn't." Amen. As GM Ben Cherington looks to the trade deadline, there should be just four players who are safe. Call them the
Core Four: Pedroia, Gonzalez, Ortiz, and Middlebrooks. Everyone else—
everyone—is expendable in a badly needed makeover of this team. For three and half years, this has been the Kansas City Royals in Boston laundry. Let's make the tough decisions that could—someday soon—lead to a hardball renaissance in Beantown.
