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Report: Red Sox Clubhouse 'Toxic,' Filled With Tension, Unhappiness

BOSTON (CBS) -- With wins in Chicago on Saturday and Sunday, the Red Sox have once again reached the .500 mark on the season. However, it appears as though a .500 record is no solution to much larger problems.

According to ESPN's Buster Olney, the Red Sox clubhouse is a rather unpleasant place to be these days.

"In talking with sources, there are many layers of unhappiness in Boston clubhouse, [with] players/staff," Olney tweeted. "There are a lot of good people with the Red Sox, but it's hard to imagine another group with more tension than what they have right now."

Olney expanded in his column on ESPN, which is available by subscription.

"There is frustration about how individual situations have been handled, about communication. For those aware of the problems, there is bad body language on display during games, as the anger manifests," he wrote, adding that some players have already begun thinking about their futures away from Boston. "But if they don't win -- if the Red Sox don't make the playoffs -- there will be a time when all of the exasperation and frustration is going to spill out spectacularly. Most divorces get ugly."

The reports from Olney aren't exactly brand new information, as he reported on April 8 and April 9 that there was a clubhouse discord in Boston, with many players still reportedly upset at the time with a perceived "snitch" who leaked information to The Boston Globe story from last fall which revealed some unprofessional behavior within the clubhouse.

That was back in April. This time around, some 60-plus games later, Olney didn't specify what exactly is dividing the clubhouse, only saying there are "too many irreconcilable differences in place."

"It doesn't take long to ascertain that the Red Sox are a splintered group, with a lot of players and staff unhappy for a lot of different reasons," Olney wrote on ESPN.com. "If they do come back and make the playoffs, it's not going to be because of a united clubhouse. It's toxic -- but that doesn't mean they can't win.''

Even after the weekend series win, the Red Sox still sit in last place in the American League East, 7 1/2 games out of first place.

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