Fans deserve answers from the Red Sox
With Truck Day, the silly celebration of the transportation of inanimate objects from Fenway Park to Fort Myers, Fla., set for Feb. 5, the Sox are driving their fans crazy with an offseason stuck in neutral.
The team that gave you the Illusion of Contention (trademark: Dan Shaughnessy) served up the Illusion of Change this offseason. Chaim Bloom is gone, but his blueprint remains in place.
It’s one devoid of impact additions, propped up by long-term promises, and packed with equivocation. That’s why the reception the Sox brass received at the team’s Lost Weekend, uh, Winter Weekend in Springfield was frostier than the recent cold snap we endured.
Brace for another season of hurry up and wait. The Sox are doing themselves and their fervent fans a disservice by not providing unvarnished answers to two questions that frame everything going on at Fenway Park.
No. 1: Why is this efficiency-focused, costconscious, prospect-prioritizing build the best path forward for an organization with the resources and revenue of the Boston Red Sox? If you’re Tampa Bay or Cleveland, this is the only way, but not for the mighty Bostonians. The obsession and dedication to this approach have begun to border on bizarre.
No. 2: What is the expected completion date of this sustainability project, which is becoming the baseball version of the Big Dig just with cost decreases instead of increases? We’re now entering Year 5, and it feels like the Sox, coming off back-to-back last-place finishes, aren’t in the home stretch of their diamond DIY project.
Before we can buy into what the Sox are selling, those questions must be answered. Otherwise, they’ll keep striking out with a fed-up fan base.
The timeline question was posed to Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy at Winter Weekend.
“I don’t think it would be appropriate to offer a timetable on anything at this point,” Kennedy told reporters. “I think we need to do the work and let our actions speak louder than our words.”
Disagree. A timetable not only provides fans light at the end of the tunnel, it creates accountability for the Sox. The only time people are unwilling to put a time frame on something is when they’re not confident they can meet it. Plus, the team’s relative inaction and reliance on reclamation projects such as starter Lucas Giolito and outfielder Tyler O’Neill are speaking loud and clear.
Chairman Tom Werner backpedaling at Deion Sanders speed from his infamous “full throttle” comment at the introductory press conference of new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that the team is ready to vacate the American League East basement. Whether it was unartful, inaccurate, or downright duplicitous, that comment raised expectations for genuine change this offseason.
The Sox changed baseball ops figureheads but not philosophies.
“We want to build this thing in a way that there’s not just quality once in a while but there’s quality paired with consistency,” Breslow told colleague Peter Abraham Jan. 16.
Swap “consistency” for “sustainability” and you have a statement that could’ve come from Bloom. The Sox threw Bloom overboard to try to buy more time and goodwill to execute the same plan.
To be clear, the Sox’ plan does have genuine merit. Building a fertile farm system is the best way to have a continuous contender. We’ve seen that with teams such as the Astros, Braves, and Dodgers.
Homegrown players were integral to the 2018 Red Sox, the winningest team in franchise history. The same can be said of the 2007 world champion Sox. Those title teams along with the 2013 and 2004 ones represent a reminder that this ownership group led by John Henry (you know what else he owns) is the most successful in team history.
But now the Sox seem to be hellbent on some type of prospect purity test version of winning. The problem with their approach is that it involves sacrificing seasons and all of your other resources.
Yes, simply spending money investing in proven players doesn’t guarantee success, just ask the Mets. But what’s frustrating about the Sox’ messaging is that they paint a baseball binary that shouldn’t exist for them.
The model should be the Dodgers. Los Angeles has a fruitful farm system but doesn’t shy away from throwing around its financial might, either. It’s not just the mega-deals the Dodgers shelled out for Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and coveted Red Sox target Yoshinobu Yamamoto this offseason.
The Dodgers dived in to trade for former Red Sox idol Mookie Betts after the 2019 season and then awarded him with a 12-year, $365 million contract. They pounced in free agency in 2022 to sign 2020 National League MVP first baseman Freddie Freeman.
The Dodgers, to use Werner’s terminology, pull all the levers at their disposal in pursuit of winning. There’s no reason that shouldn’t be the Red Sox.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Sox paid a then-record luxury-tax bill in 2019, $13.4 million. They’ve been under three of the four seasons since, and Kennedy confessed that the 2024 payroll is likelier to be lower than 2023.
Ownership is right in thinking that approximately $225 million should be enough to build a competitive team. Fair. However, the reality is the Sox need reinforcements, particularly in the rotation. Sometimes you have to pay more than you want to get what you need.
What was particularly ominous about the Winter Weekend PR blitz was the trotting out and hyping up of prospects shortstop Marcelo Mayer, catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Roman Anthony, and infielder Nick Yorke.
For years, we’ve been told that prospect development isn’t a linear process. There are jumps and dips, starts and faults. The trio of Mayer, bouncing back from left shoulder impingement that truncated his 2023 season and limited him to a .189 batting average, Teel, and Anthony have a combined 63 games of experience at Double A, which is often a line of demarcation for prospects.
Projecting them all as stars or impact players feels more than a bit presumptuous. The Sox are practically chiseling their Hall of Fame plaques.
So, the Sox could be even further away than they’re willing to admit to themselves or to us.
Boston is familiar with construction projects that don’t deliver and turn out to be delayed and more difficult than initially billed.
You can now add the local baseball team to that list.