Ben Cherington a forward thinker

BOSTON -- Instead of planning for a World Series victory parade, as many of their supporters had figured they'd be doing about now, the Red Sox instead spent yesterday picking up the pieces and attempting to move on from their historic collapse.

Fenway Park was the scene as Ben Cherington was introduced as Boston's general manager. He replaces his old boss, Theo Epstein, who earlier had his own introductory news conference at Wrigley Field as the Cubs' new president.

Epstein, slayer of the Curse of the Bambino, left Cherington with a PR mess but a world of talent and an organization that before September had been lauded as one of the best in baseball.

Then came The Collapse, and the ugly departure of manager Terry Francona, and the reports of beer-drinking, fried chicken-eating and video-game playing by three pitchers in the clubhouse during games, and the team owner saying he was against signing Carl Crawford, and another report about dugout drinking, and the drawn-out exit of Epstein, which from a compensation standpoint is still not completed. Finally, though, Red Sox Nation can exhale.

"I look forward to looking forward," Cherington said.

The Red Sox had a modest food spread at Tuesday's news conference: vegetables and cheese and cookies. If they had a sense of humor, perhaps they would have served beer and fried chicken. Too soon?

"We've let our fans down in some important ways recently," said the 37-year-old Cherington, a New Hampshire native and lifelong Red Sox fan. "The last few weeks have been painful. Difficult. But what I'm blessed with is an incredible conviction that the Red Sox will be the best organization in baseball moving forward."

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Cherington said that John Lackey, one of the alleged beer-drinking chicken-eaters along with Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, will miss next season after it was discovered he was pitching with an injured right elbow that needs Tommy John surgery.

With one surgical swoop, one-third of a huge issue will be removed from Cherington's plate. But the larger issue of whether the Red Sox have a problem clubhouse and if that was the reason they missed the playoffs after going 7-20 in September and blowing a nine-game lead still looms over the new GM.

"I think that we have work to do this offseason to restore the culture that we expect in the clubhouse, to restore a level of accountability," Cherington said. " . . . We have an important hire in the next manager and he will be a big part of it . . . And most importantly, the players are going to be a big part of it. And I know from talking to players and even some of the statements they've made publicly, I believe there's a great motivation to clean up whatever does need to be cleaned up in the clubhouse and move forward to 2012."

Farrell can't lead Sox. The Blue Jays don't intend to let manager John Farrell leave for the same job with the Red Sox. The Jays issued a statement that said employees won't be permitted to leave for the same job in another organization -- essentially blocking a move by Farrell back to the Red Sox.

On Sunday, The Boston Globe reported the Red Sox had interest in bringing Farrell back as manager. -- AP