Lucchino declined to go into detail about the meeting between players and ownership that took place in late July in New York, saying only that the Yahoo! Sports report that players were calling for Valentine to be ousted was "exaggerated and inaccurate." He also said he shared owner John Henry's disappointment that sources leaked information about the meeting to Yahoo! Sports.

As for the team's fading playoff chances (the Red Sox are three games under .500 and 6½ games out in the wild-card race), Lucchino said he didn't "want to be Pollyannaish." The Red Sox likely would need to go 31-12 or better in their final 43 games to have a shot at the postseason.

"If that happens, we'll be talking about a comeback for the ages, so let's be realistic about it," Lucchino told WEEI. "I want to see us play winning, intense, competitive baseball for the rest of this season as well and let the record develop as it does. We need to start fixing what's wrong with this club and need all the data we're going to get over the next (43) games."

Lucchino has not discussed Valentine's future beyond this season. In an interview Friday on ESPN Radio New York, Lucchino declined to answer whether Valentine would return in 2013.

In trying to explain why the Red Sox have struggled so mightily this season, Lucchino pointed to the rash of injuries as the biggest factor. The team has had 25 players on the disabled list for a total of 29 stints, more than any team since at least 1987.

"People can say, 'Oh you're just citing an excuse. All teams have injuries.' It's not an excuse, it's a reason," Lucchino said. "Part of our job is to look at what reasons caused the performance this year and the continuation of the poor performance that began last September. You have to look at these things objectively, whether you call them an excuse or a reason. I prefer to call it a reason."

Is what ails the team as simple as injuries? Or does there need to be a culture change as well?

"I do think the clubhouse culture is different when the team is winning and the star players are there regularly and leading the team in the clubhouse as well as on the field and not from the disabled list," Lucchino said.

"I think we will see an improved culture next year. If it's broke, we'll fix it. I have my share of responsibility, to be sure, for the state of the franchise. As I took pride in my share of the responsibility of the success we've had over the last 10 years, I take my share of the responsibility (for the struggles) as well.

"But it's our job, my job, Ben (Cherington's) job, John (Henry's) job, Tom (Werner's) job, people who are blessed with the responsibility to operate this team and be stewards of this team, to bring it back. If that means bringing more youth in the clubhouse, we will do that. If that means making some changes in the uniformed personnel we will do that."

Lucchino did not disagree with the notion that to Red Sox fans, it's seemed as if this season is just a continuation of last September, when the team went 7-20 to dramatically fall out of the playoff race.

"William Faulkner once said, the past isn't dead, it isn't even past. The same is true about last September. It isn't dead; it isn't even fully past yet," Lucchino said. "And certainly in the minds of some of our fans, that's true as well."

Lucchino said the front office has been "demoralized" by the team's struggles and wanted to dispel the notion it is not fully invested in the Red Sox.

"John Henry and Tom Werner are intensely competitive people," Lucchino said on WEEI. "They're passionate about this team and about its performance and want to win desperately. If you had been with us flying out (to the owners' meetings in Denver) you would have seen just a palpable air of depression of demoralization. ...

"These guys are present. They are involved in the governance of the club and to suggest otherwise, as many people have done with this notion they're more focused on other things besides the Red Sox, is just misleading the public."

Lucchino also said he blames the media "a little bit" for exaggerating the drama surrounding the Red Sox this season, and said the notion that intense coverage of the team might play a factor in making Boston an undesirable destination for players is not a new one.

"My sense is that has been the conventional wisdom for a long time, that certainly years before we got here and it was something we were determined to change," Lucchino said. "Some of it had to do with the media to be sure, there's no question about that, and that goes back a long way. You can go back to the stories of Ted Williams and the media and (Celtics star) Bill Russell and the media. And the kinds of stories that were told about the scrutiny that ballplayers are under here."

Lucchino said the team also has tried to make it more attractive to players by upgrading the training facilities at Fenway Park, but added, "What we haven't had much luck at is improving the media coverage."

Lucchino, Henry and Werner were in Baltimore on Thursday night for the conclusion of a three-game series against the Orioles. Lucchino appeared on NESN's broadcast, and elaborated on his frustration with the media.

"It's probably a distraction, but I think a lot of these players are used to it," Lucchino said. "They're Boston-tested, so to speak. There's a lot of drama and melodrama associated with the Red Sox and the media going back a long ways. Ted Williams, Bill Russell and, of course, last September as well. I think it's a little unfortunate that we can't focus some more on the playing field and a little less on the melodrama, but it's part of the territory."