Reassembled while realizing at last the message that Fenway Sports Group has sent to devoted Red Sox supporters worldwide…
You stroll by yourself from now on.
▪ Regretfully, that is all, people. It appears that Red Sox owner John Henry has decided that the team is no longer the top focus and is instead just a part of “a global sports, marketing, media, entertainment and real estate portfolio” after two decades of all-in, four-championship, money-is-no-object ownership. In 2024, FSG will no longer be able to win with its baseball team, and Sox supporters will understandably feel betrayed.
Red Sox Nation used to resemble the supporters of FSG’s beloved Premier League soccer team, who linked arms, lifted a pint, and belted out the song “You’ll never walk alone.”
By now it should be obvious to everyone: The Red Sox management has no intention of investing money or exerting much effort to make this team better. This is your team, Alex Cora, his staff, and the fans are getting the clear message. Work things out. We won’t spend another dime to improve it, regardless of whether you place last for the fourth time in five years and the seventh time in thirteen. We’re done now.
Red Sox supporters are suddenly like characters from “Eleanor Rigby.” They are all the isolated individuals. Additionally, I’m penning a sermon that no one will ever hear.
The Sox have arrived in Seattle to begin their season this week with a starting rotation that is sure to collapse: Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock, and Tanner Houck. This is in contrast to Tom Werner’s early November pledge of a “full throttle” summer. Career win-lost record overall: 105–123.
Folks, they are the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox’s starting lineup in 2004 had Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, Tim Wakefield, and Bronson Arroyo, and they were dedicated to winning titles for you.
The winter of disdain for Boston baseball was absolutely disheartening.
Henry, who also owns the Globe, skipped Springfield’s annual Winter Weekend fan festival after declaring that some ticket prices would in fact go up again. In January, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to talk with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the manager of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which provides funding for the LIV golf tour, about FSG’s $3 billion golf investment. Henry hasn’t attended a press conference for the Red Sox since the 2020 trade of Mookie Betts, which the team described as “a baseball move.”
Cost-cutting measures and the preference for payroll flexibility over proven talent were prevalent during Boston’s still-life winter. In what other way does a team sign C.J. Cron to a $2 million minor league contract while ignoring Adam Duvall (21 home runs,.834 OPS in 92 games for the Sox in 2023)? Duvall agreed to a $3 million contract with the Braves. With Cron out of the lineup, the Sox will instead turn to contract-friendly Bobby Dalbec (.204, one home run in 2023).
The finest illustration of ownership’s negligence occurred when new Sox starter Lucas Giolito underwent elbow surgery and was forced to miss the entire season since the front management made no effort to acquire Cora another strong arm. When the Sox made no attempt to get “in on” Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell, agents and general managers were shocked. Even the eternal Michael Lorenzen, who signed a $4.5 million contract with the Rangers, couldn’t afford the price.
Speaking with Alex Speier of the Globe, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow justified the decision by saying, “We have to make the moves that make sense for us working within all of the constraints.” Speaking about the financial ones is quite simple, but there are other issues as well.
“Restraints”?
LINKED: Breathless: The Red Sox aren’t going to be competitive, but what will real progress look like?
When it comes to choosing whether to pay some of the highest costs in baseball for the goods the Sox are putting on the field, perhaps fans should go Full Bres-LowBall at the Fenway ticket window. Aim to explain to the individual behind the window that you are operating within the “restrictions” imposed by your monthly spending plan. You could have to decide between watching certain Triple A players learn on the job in the major leagues or paying your car payment.
Cora seems to be aware of the humor, for sure. Upon entering the final year of his contract, we have never witnessed a manager feeling more at ease. Cora will cash in with a squad ready to pay big money after the 2024 season.
This is how the New York Times rated your team before of the season: “The Red Sox seem to be a last-place team that didn’t put up much of an effort to improve in the near term once again.”
Prepare yourself for the major 162. Perhaps watching the young and hungry Sox will be entertaining. The spring training atmosphere was encouraging, and the pitching philosophy is more organized than it was the previous two years. However, they lack great players, have made more mistakes than any other team in baseball over the past four seasons, and have very little minor league pitching.
