Sometimes the general manager has to wear it.
Ben gets great credit for 2013, as he should, but there were some amazing overperformance by a number of players on that team. In 2014 everything turned around in the other direction. Shane Victorino might be the poster boy for what happened.
If Ben gets great credit for 2013 he also has to wear the results of 2014 and 2015. That's how I see it, anyway.
When you look at the history of the team since 2002, generally speaking the only years where the team fell vastly short of pre-season expectations were the Cherington years.