Sox monster still being fed

We knew it before Terry Francona’s book came out, but the monster that is the Red Sox is still on the loose and breathing fire once again.

At times, like right now, the beast is a menace, something that makes successful, complicated people look either idiotic or petty or both. While the stories in Francona’s book, which was co-written by Globe columnist and Red Sox ownership nemesis Dan Shaughnessy, make for fascinating reading, they continue a long line of revelations that speak to how challenged some are when it comes to dealing with adversity.

Before this, the most revealing book about the Red Sox’ rise from the ashes of the Yawkey ownership was Seth Mnookin’s “Feeding the Monster,” which came out in the summer of 2006.

Mnookin, with a green light from principal owner John Henry, embedded himself with the ballclub from late in the 2004 season through spring training of 2006.

The phrase “feeding the monster” meant pretty much the same then as it did last summer, when former Sox general manager Theo Epstein, now the Cubs president of baseball operations, told the Herald about how difficult it was to tame the “monster” at the end of his and Francona’s Red Sox careers. The monster rears its head whenever the team cannot find the right balance between a purer, baseball-first credo and ownership’s win-now mentality and desire for sexy players and good ratings.

That Epstein, no fan of “Feeding the Monster,” according to Mnookin, subscribes to the monster theory now is telling.

“I never understood why Theo seemed to feel like it was possible for that monster not to exist,” said Mnookin, who had only read the Sports Illustrated excerpts of Francona’s book when he was interviewed. “It is the Red Sox, it’s Boston and I think everyone needs to accept that as a reality of working in this market. There is going to be outsized pressure and overheated attention. To think that you can eliminate by the way you run your team always struck me as not being true.

“The sense I got was he felt like it could be controlled more than it could be controlled.”

The Francona book would not be nearly as significant without Epstein’s on-the-record comments about not only the business side’s use of consultants but also his own acceptance of responsibility for the team’s signings of free agents such as John Lackey and Carl Crawford.

The book is full of good writing — “There may be profound depth to ( Manny) Ramirez, but anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise” — and juicy stories that have been highlighted elsewhere.

Unmistakable throughout is a strong sense of how deeply wounded Francona was by the way he departed. As much as the book is a mother lode of inside Red Sox material — sometimes a very pungent mother lode — there is an undeniable tone of vengeance to it. The monster spawns fear and awe, and when people leave its clutches, that exit tends to be messy.

One day, probably, we’ll hear the owners’ version of the truth but until then, the monster runs amok.

“Here in Boston it’s just story after (expletive) story after story,” ex-Sox star Kevin Youkilis said in the book. “And drama, drama, drama. Guys that can’t handle it go nuts.”

Said Josh Beckett: “(Francona) got kicked in the balls just like everybody else that ever left Boston. Why won’t they just let you leave? They did it to Nomar ( Garciaparra). Now they do it to him. He was a great manager, and all they did was kick him in the nuts when he leaves. I hope he buries all those (expletive).”

And Dustin Pedroia: “Does anybody ever leave here happy?” Short answer, hardly ever. Not with the monster lurking in every corner.

Good signs for Pedro

Pedro Martinez, a new special assistant to Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington, bumped into Francona and Shaughnessy before Thursday night’s Boston Baseball Writers’ Dinner. With a smile, Martinez said to Shaughnessy, “You evil, evil man,” but still had Shaughnessy sign his book. Wrote Shaughnessy, “Love you, too.”

Francona signed Martinez’ complimentary copy of the book, “Thanks for everything!”

Martinez said he would read the book. He said, “I heard they gave me a hard time a little bit. We’ll see.”

Martinez will not just be working with Red Sox minor and major league pitchers in his new post. Some of his duties will include going to big league games in, say, Miami, where he lives part-time, to scout players who may be trade or free agent targets down the road. Martinez still plans to carve out plenty of time to be with his family. He is also thinking about buying a new place to live in Boston. He said Mayor Tom Menino suggested he try the up-and-coming Seaport area, which appeals to Martinez on one level because it is on the water. Martinez sold his Jamaica Plain property a while back.

Napoli illness a mystery

Mike Napoli and the Red Sox do not know what caused his case of avascular necrosis, which refers to hip bones weakening or dying because of poor blood supply. They may never know. Chris Geary, chief of sports medicine at Tufts Medical Center, along with a doctor who still treats professional athletes but did not want to be named, singled out exposure to steroids — used for either medical or performancepurposes — as a common cause of AVN among athletes. Alcoholism, congenital abnormalities and deep-sea diving are some other causes.

“Sometimes it’s completely idiopathic,” said Geary, referring to unknown reasons for being afflicted with AVN. “There could be no risk factors and there’s not always a discrete corollary.”

Miller saluted

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the players’ association held a memorial service for late union head Marvin Miller.

Just five active players were in New York City for the occasion, but the Red Sox were represented by relievers Andrew Bailey and Craig Breslow.

They heard a range of former players and union personnel speak to the powerful impact of Miller, who oversaw the implementation of free agency. Miller’s exclusion from the Hall of Fame was a recurrent theme. Jim Bouton recalled union executive Gene Orza once noting that having former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, a frequent foil and fall-guy of Miller, in the Hall of Fame “is like putting Wile E. Coyote in the Hall of Fame and not the Road Runner.”

Said Buck Martinez: “For everybody that was involved with Marvin Miller, you realized the impact he had and the fact that it is a travesty that he is not in the Hall of Fame.”

Joe Morgan, the Hall of Fame second baseman, was initially skeptical of Miller.

“The first time Marvin came in, I looked at this little guy, and I said, ‘Is he tough enough to do this job?’ Can you imagine me questioning someone’s toughness because of his stature?

“We could have searched 100 years and not found a more perfect person.”

Rusty Staub perhaps put it best: “I think every time somebody signs one of these wonderful contracts, and there are so many of them out there, I think before they get the first check they should have to write an essay on Marvin Miller.”