Mazz to the Red Sox: Tell the truth
The Boston Red Sox brass (minus John Henry, he was “busy”) met with the media and fans at their annual “Winter Weekend” this past weekend and tried to walk back some of the comments they made at the beginning of the offseason. On Monday’s Felger and Mazz, Mazz gave his thoughts on what they had to say to the media over the weekend.
Thoughts on what the Red Sox front office had to say…
Mazz: So here’s the thing, and I’ve said this over the years soI want to be clear on this part, I don’t think they’re stupid. Okay, I don’t think they’re stupid, but they clearly think you are. So it’s disingenuous for them to do it the way they do it. I don’t understand why they just don’t tell the truth. You know what my motto is? Tell the truth. That’s my motto. I try to live by that motto. Tell the effin truth. And so if the truth is “we’re trying to develop our minor league system, we believe we can be competitive while we’re doing that but until we get to a certain stage, it doesn’t really make sense for us to go out and sign $500 million free agents”, okay! Now I disagree with them, but at least I would respect the fact that they were telling the truth. Now I respect neither and I believe neither. And here’s the other thing too, that example he gave of improving the defense, I mean the nine more wins they would have gotten. First of all, nine is a lie. It was probably half of that.
Felger: I was going to say that feels like a lot.
Mazz: Okay, let’s call it five. But I’ll tell you what, for the sake of this discussion, I’ll give you a nine. I’ll give you nine, 8 or 9. Jimmy, how many games did they win last year again?
BOSTON, MA – JUNE 26: Chairman of the Boston Red Sox Tom Werner and principle owner John Henry walk on the field before the game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on June 26, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
J-Stew: Uh, 78, I believe .
Mazz: 78. So that gets them to 86 or 87. Is that what we’re looking for? That’s the goal now?
Felger: Is that full throttle?
Mazz: Right. And here’s the other thing, as our new intern pointed out and it’s a good one, if they were 86 or 87 just by including the defense, wouldn’t that be more reason to go out and spend the money? Wouldn’t that be more reason to go out and get a front line pitcher to put up with bail because you say, “well, wait a minute, If we’re 86 or 87, then now’s the time to go drop 300 million on Yamamoto and now we’re in the game”. Back when Theo Epstein was here, you know what the goal was for wins per season? 95. That was the goal every year, not 86 or 87. You want to do 86 or 87 then go buy some small mid market team and have fun.
