Mario's statue is more than deserved.
But after the back to back cups, it is arguable that he and Burkle were absentee owners.
There was no effort to get the area around the arena properly developed. There were no upgrades to the arena despite some needs as it passed and crossed the 10-year anniversary.
As Guerin, Botterill, and Fitzgerald left the front office for GM jobs, there was no effort to replace them. Rutherford was content to have fewer and fewer people around him, and the lack of depth shows in hindsight.
And their greatest sin was Mario and Burkle delegating the GM search to David Morehouse, who hired Burke and Heztall.
That's what an absentee ownership looks like. Not one that's overseen an overhaul and substantial growth of the front office staff, paid for an overhaul of the minor league staffs, paid for arena upgrades, and finally made progress on much delayed development around the arena.
FSG is corporate. They're largely faceless outside of their Red Sox ownership. Time will tell if they can win.
But they're not absent. Just because they haven't made one move that some fans want doesn't mean they're not invested.
