The negative things that were said about the team really understated the state of the team as all could see by the end. It was a typical case of shooting the messenger. This was a horribly flawed team from day 1. I am so glad that Cherries specifically acknowledged that the root of the team's poor performance was not injuries, but rather poor pitching, and he took responsibility for not building an adequate staff. That heartens me for a few reasons. In this day and age too many people look to avoid accountability for their mistakes. It's become a cultural thing and the main reason why our education system sucks the big one. Not only will people not hold themselves accountable, but teachers, bosses etc. are not allowed to criticize. Sorry for the digression. The good thing about taking accountability is not to have someone to blame. You can't fix a problem unless you can identify the problem and its causes. I am happy that Cherries is not deluding himself or lying to his superiors, the fans or the press. Now, he needs to fix it.
Even the most negative comments about the team early on did not anticipate a last place finish, so whatever they said was completely warranted and truly understated the teams problems by a long shot. I don't know why criticism by fellow fans upsets people. We're all diehard Red Sox fans. We all want the team to do well. Frankly, some people need to grow up and realize that the criticism leveled at their team by fellow fans is not a personal insult. You are right that the pollyanas have really made themselves scarce lately. Some people take that term as a terrible personal insult, which is ironic (apologies YOTN) considering the insulting terms and ridicule used towards posters who dare to offer honest criticism.
At the start of the season, I thought this team would probably stay in the hunt for the second wild card spot until late in the season when I thought the thin pitching would be exposed and collapse. I was very disappointed in the off season moves, but I thought they might have enough to keep the fans interest for most of the season. With 5 teams making the playoffs, just playing .500 keeps you competitive. You really have to suck bad to be out of contention by the beginning of August. People lost their minds when I stated at the All Star Break that the team had no shot at the division. Does anyone owe me any money or beer on that one. LOL! At that point, even I didn't think we would end up in last place and still thought we could compete for a wild card. It was really tough living through 6 months of stinking right on the heels of last September. It has been an unending nightmare. Now, that the suffering is over, I am somewhat glad that the team failed so early and was so horribly bad, because it is a wake up call. If we had been competitive for a wild card spot in September, it would have validated the FO for the extremely lousy job it had done. This failure has opened everyone's eyes to the fact that the emperor has no clothes. He needs to go shopping.