Washing The Balls, Washing The Balls

It's amusing to read the beginning of certain Shank columns just for gems like this one:

FORT MYERS, Fla. — When the Red Sox traded Jon Lester to Oakland last summer — they didn’t want to pay Lester’s steep free agency price — I suggested that Boston baseball was becoming “Kansas City on the Charles.’’

That was wrong. And I’m not saying that just because John Henry, who owns the Globe and the Sox, is an all-around swell guy.

Then the column takes a more serious tone:

Asked if there would be any tweaks in the ownership, regarding upper management, Henry answered, “Last year Mike Gordon was named president of FSG but not the Red Sox. I read that ridiculous story (that would be yours, Shank! - ed). . . ridiculous in this sense . . . that there’s some sort of power struggle between Mike and Larry. Nothing could be further from the truth. There’s never been, that I know of, a word spoken in that regard within ownership.

“Mike is much more involved with Liverpool. He gets involved with the Red Sox with regard to financial decisions because of his tremendous financial mind. But there’s no power struggle.’’

Shank bravely sticks to his guns:

Sorry, boss, no retraction on this one.

Henry certainly knows how his organization is run and his is ultimately the only vote that matters, but when posed with the power shift question last week, the owner elected not to respond.

In the Red Sox’ official club directory of 2014, Gordon is not listed as anything other than “limited partner.” If the Sox made him president of FSG last year, they didn’t tell anyone. There’s been a change in the official hierarchy since last spring. And it is not subtle. For the first time, the official Red Sox website shows Gordon as the third-ranking Red Sox team official. In order, it’s Henry, Werner, Gordon, then Lucchino.

Coincidentally, we now have Gordon’s name included when club officials speak of the longstanding troika of “John, Tom, and Larry.’’ And some of us find it interesting that Lucchino just bought part of the Pawtucket Red Sox. Larry and Tom will be on campus to deny the power shift on Wednesday.

So, did someone feed Shank with some bogus information in an effort to embarrass him, prompting this column from last week to the applause of former Boston Globe buttboys? Or did Shank put this together on his own? Stay tuned for the next episode of 'As The Shank Turns'!