Red Sox CEO Kennedy: Anyone Who Doubts Intentions to Compete Is Wrong and ‘a Liar’

Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVJanuary 20, 2024

Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Boston Red Sox team president Sam Kennedy pushed firmly back against those who question whether the organization’s ownership has become less committed to building a winning team.

WEEI’s Chris Curtis brought up the topic to Kennedy.

“When we have two sucky seasons like we’ve had, these are natural questions. We have to take them,” the executive said. “But I can tell you, as a kid who grew up less than a mile from Fenway Park, if you think for one second that we aren’t passionate, committed, dedicated to the Boston Red Sox, you’re wrong, you’re a liar, and I’ll correct you on it, because it’s total BS.

“We are committed. We are frustrated. We take it personally. It angers us when we don’t win. And we understand that there are natural questions.”

The Red Sox’s payroll tells a slightly different story, though.

Boston had MLB’s highest Opening Day payroll in 2018 and 2019. Well ahead of the 2020 season, though, principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner made it clear they wanted to lower the organization’s financial commitments. To that end, Mookie Betts got shipped out to the Los Angeles Dodgers in one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory.

There’s a tangible benefit to getting under the competitive balance tax because it resets the clock on the penalties incurred to those who exceed the tax.

Red Sox fans might’ve been a little more forgiving if player expenditures began to tick back upward after 2020. Instead, Boston had the 12th-highest Opening Day payroll in 2023, its lowest since at least 2000.

There has been little in the way of investment this offseason too. Per FanGraphs, they’re on track to spend $21 million less than they did last year. To reference something Werner said in November, this doesn’t look like a team that’s going “full throttle” to improve the roster and build a winner.

It’s true that spending money isn’t directly correlated to success. If that were the case, the New York Mets and San Diego Padres would’ve made the playoffs a season ago.

When it comes to the Red Sox, the frustration stems from the fact they’re content now to spend well below their means. They play in a sports-mad city that’s also a sizable media market. Forbes valued them as the third-richest MLB franchise last March, yet they’re operating more like a mid-market team.

Pete Abraham @PeteAbeHad a conversation with Craig Breslow today. Story coming soon on @BGlobeSports.

For now, here was his answer when I asked him if he still believed ownership was committed to competing at the highest level: pic.twitter.com/JfBcNUpCMT

If Kennedy and his fellow Red Sox execs are upset with how their level of commitment is perceived, then there’s an easy way to silence their skeptics.