Millar on M&M: 'Who is the leader' of Sox?

MLB Network analyst Kevin Millar joined Mut & Merloni to talk about the floundering Red Sox, especially controversial pitcher Josh Beckett. While Beckett has come under fire for his postgame comments Thursday night, Millar said the veteran hurler does have a point about his off-days being private.

"The off-day comment, he's 100 percent right. He's not just kind of right, he's 100 percent right," Millar said. "It's no one's business how we spend our off-days as a major league player. … He went golfing. The judgment's not great and it wasn't a good idea because of the lat issue that he had to skip a start. So, you're correct right there, Josh Beckett probably could have chosen to do something a little bit in better taste at that time, maybe. If he was with the trainer getting rehab, it would have made more sense."

Added Millar: "If Beckett probably had to do this over again, I'm going to say that he wouldn't have done it. But it is what it is. It's not the end of the world. He wasn't driving on the street corner drunk. He went golfing and skipped a start with a sore lat."

Millar said someone in the Red Sox clubhouse needs to step forward and be a leader, noting that if he were on the team he'd call a players-only meeting.

"Why do we care more than somebody in that clubhouse? Stand somebody up," he said. "Who's leading that team? We can't do it on the radio lines. Right now the volumes are turned up, people driving their cars. Why do we care more than those people in the clubhouse? That's my point. It needs to happen internally. Somebody needs to lead the team. That's my question from last year: Who is the leader right now?"

Millar said the manager "hasn't been very good" and now needs to step up, although his comments should be kept in house.

"The bottom line: Something needs to happen internally, not through the media. We don't need to hear Bobby Valentine's voice. He needs to address these guys in that clubhouse right now. … If I'm a manager, we're for sure having a team meeting. And it's not going to be fun."

To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page. For more Red Sox news, visit the team page at weei.com/redsox.