Remy: 'I've had enough' of Sox ripping umps

Appearing on Dennis & Callahan Wednesday morning, NESN Red Sox analyst Jerry Remy said the constant arguing with the umpires is just one of a few things negatively affecting the Red Sox at this point in the season.

"It's gotten way out of hand and I think it eventually hurts you," Remy said. "You're going to have individual battles with umpires in a game, that's commonplace, that happens all the time. But to come out and just completely rip them all and have this constant battle going on, I mean, look, these guys are human, too. They read the same things that we read and they hear the same things we hear. I don't know how close calls can go either way when you're out there publicly ripping an umpire.

"Quite frankly, I've had enough of it and I think it doesn't suit the team well at all to continue ripping umpires because it's not going to help you. I know that they're professionals, they're supposed to do their job, but look, they're human beings, too, and they get to hear this stuff all the time and you won't get a certain edge if it continues."

Injuries also are a concern for the Sox, and Remy said it's difficult to determine this team's identity with so many players on the disabled list.

"It's tough to read this club right now because they're not paying with a full deck and it's hard to predict what they're going to look like when [the injured players] come back, which is who knows when," Remy said. "It appears like it's going to be a solid lineup, but you don't know when these guys are coming back. It's really a patchwork thing you're going through right now and to me it becomes more obvious with the better pitching you face."

Pitcher Daniel Bard has been a disappointment, struggling with his control so much that he was sent to Triple-A. Remy said it's not clear where Bard will fit in based on his minor league appearances.

"I have no idea what's going on with that situation," Remy said. "They started him the first game, he had a terrible outing [and] he hit a couple of guys. Now, the last I heard he pitched an inning out of the bullpen two days ago and I don't know what's going on, really. I think what they're trying to do is get back in the comfort zone where he was as a relief pitcher and just focus on what he did at the big league level to make him successful. Now, where that takes him, I don't know. If you're not piling up innings at the minor leagues, how are you going to come up to the big leagues and be a starter?"

Kevin Youkilis' performance hasn't helped, either, as the infielder has struggled this season and he's now the topic of trade rumors. Youkilis, who was publicly criticized by manager Bobby Valentine early in the season. made a comment this week to a reporter that implied there were some issues in the clubhouse.

"I think he sees the handwriting on the wall," Remy said. "He got publicly challenged by Valentine early on in this season which I know he didn't like. He's not having a good year, he's not swinging the bat well right now, he sees the young kid in [Will] Middlebrooks at third base who's going to be the third base of the future. and he sees [that Adrian] Gonzalez is going to be at first base for a long time.

"The handwriting's been on the wall for him, hasn't it? I think he reads the tea leaves and he probably realized he's not going to be here very much longer. The question is whether it's going to be this year or next year."

Remy said one recent positive for Boston has been the pitching of Clay Buchholz, who appeared to suffer psychologically as opposed to physically early in the season.

"Watching Buchholz earlier in the year [made me] think there was a lot of uncertainty in his mind," Remy said. "Coming off the injury from last year I don't think he was 100 percent sure that he was completely healthy to be able to do the things he wanted to do. It seemed like he was overthinking things, he was taking forever between pitches, and that's not like him. The last four games he's been outstanding, last night again was excellent for him, and when he's on he's one of the best pitchers they've got. He's got some of the best stuff in the American League and we've seen that now at least for the last four starts."

To hear the interview, visit the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page. For more Red Sox news, visit the team page at weei.com/redsox.