The Red Sox finished in last place in the American League East for the third time in four years and the future doesn’t look better for 2024. I just turned 43 years old and since the age of 7 I’ve always looked forward to Baseball Spring Training, pitchers and catchers reporting to Fort Myers, and day one of Red Sox manager “X” sitting at the picnic table addressing the media. My level of passion and interest for Boston’s 2024 baseball campaign is at an all time low. And that sucks and blows Mike! It’s because of the lack of moves this offseason, Red Sox leadership saying payroll will go down after telling us the Red Sox will be “full throttle” in making moves to help improve the on field baseball team, and Sam Kennedy and Craig Breslow describing different roles for new senior adviser and part-owner of Fenway Sports Group, Theo Epstein. There feels like there is a lot of disfunction and unorganized people running the Boston Red Sox. Not to mention the on field team looks young and uninspiring, unless you’re Tyler Miliken, and I even think young Tyler is frustrated by the Red Sox lack of moves.
So where does my frustration as a fan come from? It starts with Red Sox Team President Sam Kennedy. To be clear, it’s not personal, I don’t recall ever meeting Sam or having a conversation with him. My issues with Sam Kennedy are how he’s turned the Boston Red Sox baseball team into a Fenway Sports Group business, which I hate. And as a fan you should hate too.
In 2019 the Red Sox payroll was more than $235,000,000 and number one in baseball coming off a World Series Championship. I believe that Sam Kennedy pushed Dave Dombrowski out and used his business sense to do so. Sam would have appealed to Red Sox ownership about spending mistakes that Dombrowski had made and was about to make. “Sugar Daddy” Dave was all about winning games. Dave was about making sure that his manager had what he needed to win baseball games. Sam is all about winning dollar bills. I just have a core belief that the goal of a sports franchise owner is not to run a for profit business, your goal is to build a winning team that allows a community to come together. I know I said this on twitter a few weeks ago and got major push back and that’s ok.
Dave Dombrowski was fired by the Red Sox on September 9, 2019, just 10 months after winning the 2018 World Series, following a 10–5 loss to the New York Yankees, which dropped Boston’s record for the season to 76–67.
On Aug 6th, 2019, Dan Shaughnessy, wrote this in the Globe:
“I’ll be shocked if Dave Dombrowski is back with the Red Sox next season. Boston’s president of baseball operations has increasingly isolated himself with pals Frank Wren and Tony La Russa and has few friends inside Fenway’s walls. Dombrowski is under contract for just one more season. When you have the top payroll in baseball and don’t make the playoffs, somebody has to go. Alex Cora isn’t going anywhere. Dombrowski has been exactly what we thought he would be. He delivered a championship. But he gets the blame for the Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi contracts and for failing to address the bullpen need. He’s clearly not the guy to oversee a much-needed farm system rebuild.”
I believe Dave answered directly to John Henry and Tom Werner and didn’t care what Sam Kennedy had to say so that quote to Dan feels like a Sam Kennedy leak but I don’t know that. So now with Sam Kennedy, who isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, leading the way for the Red Sox, we’re just going to sit here and play Moneyball with some of the highest ticket prices in baseball. Just remember the Boston Red Sox are choosing to play Moneyball, they have the resources where they don’t have to play Moneyball.
So now, let’s turn to the on field problems I have.
Star Power
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – JUNE 23: Rafael Devers #11 of the Boston Red Sox tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on June 23, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
Or lack of Star Power….
Today, February 13th, 2024, the Boston Red Sox have one Superstar player, his name is Rafael Devers, he finished 18th in the MVP voting last season. This is year one of his 10-year contract extension worth $313.5 million, It’s also a franchise-record contract for the Red Sox and one of the largest extensions in MLB history. I expect him to be in the top 10 of the MVP voting this season. After Devers, who else is going to get MVP votes? Who else is going to get CY Young votes?
The next Superstar of the Boston Red Sox should be Triston Casas who was drafted by “Sugar” Dave Dombrowski. Casas finished third in Rookie of the Year voting and some believe he’s projecting to be better than MLB the Show coverman, the Toronto Blue Jay’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. Guerrero Jr. finished second in MVP voting in his third year in the majors, Casas is entering his third season at the major league level. If Casas is an All-Star and gets MVP votes, he’ll slide into being Boston’s second star and with his personality, he might slide into becoming Boston’s face of the franchise.
Beyond Devers and Casas, pitcher Brayan Bello could become an ACE and a face of the franchise pitcher this season but he has to be MUCH better than his post August 1st numbers of 5-5 with a 5.16 ERA in 11 starts.
Red Sox people are all horned up to tell you how great Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Kyle Teel are the next coming of Betts, Bogaerts and Bradley Jr. And with respect to Trevor Story, Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreau and Vaughn Grissom, I need to see it to believe that these players can be stars and superstars.
Infield Defense
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 17: Trevor Story #10 of the Boston Red Sox throws to first base during the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Fenway Park on June 17, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Paul Rutherford/Getty Images)
Tom Werner said if the Red Sox would have had 9 to 10 more wins with league average defense. Depending on who those wins might have been against, the Red Sox could have been in the postseason. So what did the Red Sox do to improve the infield defense? Vaughn Grissom at second. Or will he be in the outfield? If Trevor Story can play 130 games then that is a massive upgrade over Kiké Hernández at shortstop. But if Story can’t, what’s behind him? Bobby Dalbec? I’d love that to be sarcastic, but the infield depth chart is Bobby Dalbec and Pablo Reyes. And Pablo can’t play everyday. Can coaching make Devers and Casas better at their positions? Hopefully! In 2023 the Red Sox were below average at all four infield positions and the improvement the Red Sox made was Vaughn Grissom who was about to be moved to the outfield. Yikes.
The Red Sox won 78 games last season, though one of the owners thinks if they had league average defense they would have won as many as 88 games. That still kind of stinks when the gold standard for the Boston Red Sox should be the Terry Francona – Theo Epstein era, which was 95 wins. The leadership of team president Larry Lucchino and General Manager Theo Epstein were in on everything. They spent, got big names, and built an excellent farm system. Baseball teams can do both. The Red Sox should always be able to do both. This will be season five of the “Sam Kennedy Red Sox team president era in Boston”. If the Red Sox don’t turn it around, my hope is he’ll be bumped out of Red Sox leadership and Henry and Werner will bring in a real team president with on field goals in mind, not business goals in mind.
