Red Sox/MLB 2023 Spring Training Begins- Forbes says Boston Red Sox are worth $4.5 billion
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This is massive for the game of baseball. The support from the White Sox needs to be the norm for all teams.
There was no standing ovation in Springfield if you eliminate Sam Kennedy and Tom Caron
theathletic.com
While Henry has not met in person with the media in recent years, and is not expected to do so Monday, The Athletic had a chance to email Henry a few questions about the state of the team ahead of his arrival at JetBlue Park.
The booing at Winter Weekend was hard to ignore. Did you recognize that that level of frustration existed from some in the fanbase and does it motivate you to do anything differently?
There is a false narrative surrounding the club. It really took hold in 2022. There were even false reports of booing at Fenway Park during the Winter Classic. I think those factors and losing Xander to San Diego were the biggest factors. Those are the fans you would believe are the least likely to try to shout us down, but it happened. Did anyone report the standing ovation at the end?
These fans support the club with so much passion we are able to afford $200 million-plus payrolls. They bring the magic to Fenway Park. Before coming to Boston I used to think the park was the magic or that it resided in the history of Fenway Park. But after just a few nights in 2002 it was obvious to me that it was the fans who made Fenway evenings magical. They filled up the park with an unmatched passion. Someone early on asked me why I came to Boston to own the Sox. I replied that I wanted to work and live somewhere that every morning I rose what I did would matter. We have had a great experience and fans have been great. That’s who we work for.
Signing Rafael Devers to the biggest deal in franchise history was a clear high point, yet based on the other moves made this winter, projections and expectations for the team are still low. Even though team payroll is still among the top 10 in the league, are the Red Sox still on the same tier as organizations like the Yankees, Padres, Dodgers and Mets when it comes to investment in the on-field product and the expectations for year-in-year out success?
If you add the championships together of those four clubs I’m not sure they would match our total over the last 20 years. They have all had down years or periods and we had a disappointing 2022 after a strong 2021. Again, I think there is a narrative at work that doesn’t match up well with the facts. However, if you are asking if we are going to now move to $300 million payrolls the answer is no.
What, if anything, do you think you could have done differently in the negotiations with Xander Bogaerts?
We could have offered 12 years!
How do you view the job Chaim and the front office have done over the past three seasons with a trip to the ALCS sandwiched between two last-place finishes?
We play in the toughest division in baseball and we haven’t gotten the results we were looking for recently with the exception of 2021. No one was happy with a mediocre result last year. In our division if you play .500 ball you are going to finish last.
A brief Q&A with Red Sox principal owner John Henry
Henry is not meeting with the media in spring training, but agreed to answer a few questions from The Athletic ahead of a team meeting.
theathletic.com
While Henry has not met in person with the media in recent years, and is not expected to do so Monday, The Athletic had a chance to email Henry a few questions about the state of the team ahead of his arrival at JetBlue Park.
The booing at Winter Weekend was hard to ignore. Did you recognize that that level of frustration existed from some in the fanbase and does it motivate you to do anything differently?
There is a false narrative surrounding the club. It really took hold in 2022. There were even false reports of booing at Fenway Park during the Winter Classic. I think those factors and losing Xander to San Diego were the biggest factors. Those are the fans you would believe are the least likely to try to shout us down, but it happened. Did anyone report the standing ovation at the end?
These fans support the club with so much passion we are able to afford $200 million-plus payrolls. They bring the magic to Fenway Park. Before coming to Boston I used to think the park was the magic or that it resided in the history of Fenway Park. But after just a few nights in 2002 it was obvious to me that it was the fans who made Fenway evenings magical. They filled up the park with an unmatched passion. Someone early on asked me why I came to Boston to own the Sox. I replied that I wanted to work and live somewhere that every morning I rose what I did would matter. We have had a great experience and fans have been great. That’s who we work for.
Signing Rafael Devers to the biggest deal in franchise history was a clear high point, yet based on the other moves made this winter, projections and expectations for the team are still low. Even though team payroll is still among the top 10 in the league, are the Red Sox still on the same tier as organizations like the Yankees, Padres, Dodgers and Mets when it comes to investment in the on-field product and the expectations for year-in-year out success?
If you add the championships together of those four clubs I’m not sure they would match our total over the last 20 years. They have all had down years or periods and we had a disappointing 2022 after a strong 2021. Again, I think there is a narrative at work that doesn’t match up well with the facts. However, if you are asking if we are going to now move to $300 million payrolls the answer is no.
What, if anything, do you think you could have done differently in the negotiations with Xander Bogaerts?
We could have offered 12 years!
How do you view the job Chaim and the front office have done over the past three seasons with a trip to the ALCS sandwiched between two last-place finishes?
We play in the toughest division in baseball and we haven’t gotten the results we were looking for recently with the exception of 2021. No one was happy with a mediocre result last year. In our division if you play .500 ball you are going to finish last.
KrejciMVP
Registered User
GatorMike
Registered User
he should sell the team. Need a new owner with a clean slate with fans and a new vision.
Who's buying an MLB Franchise, and who's to say Delaware North doesn't get cut from NESN OUTRIGHT, THE way Providence hasn't been broadcast in 25 years outside of the College program...... be glad Worcester has a contract w/ NESN, Krejci
Who's buying an MLB Franchise, and who's to say Delaware North doesn't get cut from NESN OUTRIGHT, THE way Providence hasn't been broadcast in 25 years outside of the College program...... be glad Worcester has a contract w/ NESN, Krejci
KesselBuiltMyHotrod
Registered User
Sox could finish last for the next 20 years and I still wouldn't give a f*** what Shaughnessy thinks.
McGarnagle
Yes.
- Aug 5, 2017
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I read this way too quickly, only seeing Anderson and White Sox and legit thought it was actually Tim Anderson for a good 5 minutes or so.
The Red Sox have been in Ft Myers now for 30 years. I have talked to NESN people down there and there is ZERO buzz with the workouts.
I am of a generation where Winter Haven had a charm even though no city in Florida is farther away from salt water. The big plus was being 45 minutes from Disney and the Holiday Inn was ground zero for everyone. It was fun...........
FSG has given me 4 World Series winners which the way things were trending 20 years ago is 4 more than I could hope for. But the Yawkey/Harrington era never produced a debacle like this.
I hate the theme park Fenway has become - and the pregame is scripted to the second.
I am bitter on a professional level at what NESN has become.
BruinsFanSince94
The Perfect Fan ™
The guy has a huge bias, probably since working on his his book with Francona, bitter over his firing. The guy detests Red Sox management with every waking moment, and it is really tiresome. Can't we have just a little bit of nuance?
ylekot
Still evaluating..
This is what happens when you have no Pedro, Ortiz, Clemens, Fisk, Rice, Lynn, Manny, Betts, Xander, Boggs, Schilling Yaz. You have Devers who's a special hitter but that's just not enough. Hopefully Bloom has collected enough promising talent in the farm that will make them relevant again in the next few years. Henry has brought 4 WS championships to a team that was void for nearly a century and for that I am grateful and appreciative. As a 9 year old in 75' I was crushed, in 86' devastated, 2003 numb. I think If you lived and died through those times you have a different point of view of what really happened in 2004. I just could not boo the guy after that.
Donnie Shulzhoffer
Rocket Surgery
For what it's worth, this is the first time in over 35 years that my aunt and her group of 10 won't be going down. They literally rent a group of houses for a month every season. They're done now.
KrejciMVP
Registered User
I can't imagine fan enthusiasm is that high for this team compared to some years
N o o d l e s
Registered User
MLB creates economic reform committee in wake of Mets' spending, Bally RSN woes
"I think that people see it as an opportunity to rethink the revenue side of the house a little bit," said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
Leave Cohen alone you animals
f***ing joke. Start a committee to answer why 2/3 of the league barely spends any money but are owned by billionaires.
GatorMike
Registered User
EverettMike
FIRE DON SWEENEY INTO THE SUN
The older challenge Manfred referred to is indeed a long-running topic in the sport: owners who are unhappy about the difference in the amount of money teams make. (For as long as those complaints have existed, so too have rebuttals that the clubs are doing well financially.)
“When you start thinking about the opportunities in terms of a more national (broadcasting) product, it did lead into a conversation about our disparity issues on the revenue side,” Manfred said. “We have businesses that are literally not similar in terms of the overall revenue that they’re generating. And to the extent that you could find a new distribution model that actually helped on that disparity side, that would be the daily double. So people are having conversations that haven’t been had in baseball, and it’s really been owners talking to owners, which is a good thing.”
Rob Manfred is gonna turn me into the Joker.
These selfish owners aren't content with guaranteed earnings. No, they want guaranteed earnings plus the guarantee no other owner will actually spend money and make them look bad.
They're not happy with the fact they can operate their team like it's a thrift shop while taking in hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to revenue sharing. No they also need everyone else to do it so their fans don't notice.
MLB's owners are the biggest threat to Major League Baseball's viability going forward.
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