Owners: Sox's Henry vs. Pats's Kraft; a study in contrast

[RhodyPatriot]

Kraft has never had to deal with the level of criticism and smear that's been thrown this Sox ownerships' way.
The media agenda at work here reminds me so much of the witchhunt that Bill Belichick had to deal with after Spygate.
Oh how interesting.......Belichick despises the media and so does Sox ownership.
Must be just a coincidence seeing the similar personal agenda driven mediot coverage.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Kraft had to deal with what seemed to me, a goy, political anti-semitism when he tried to site the Pats in South Boston. The Beloved Sox were courted for a similar site.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Kraft had to deal with what seemed to me, a goy, political anti-semitism when he tried to site the Pats in South Boston. The Beloved Sox were courted for a similar site.

The beloved Sox?? This ownership group was smeared as carpetbaggers and worse when they bought the club. The treatment they received not only by the media but also the local pols was outrageous and quite personal. Seriously. go back to Dec of 2001 and see the reception this group got. Ugly!!

 

[Tunescribe]

I didn't used to feel this way but the more I see of Jonathan the less confident of the future I become. Hope I'm wrong.

I'm curious about what led you to this, specifically. My sense is that Jonathan's the one driving things behind the scenes.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Earlier this week, there was a thread started that bashed sports radio personnel- which I always thought was an oddity because you had to have to listen to them in the first place before being able to bash them.

Unfortunately, one of those persons exhibiting such odditiy happened to be the Sox's principal owner, Henry, who was listening to 98.5 and got so enraged he drove straight to the radio station to demand air time to argue his point of view in what I think is the biggest PR disaster in Henry's tenure as the owner of the Sox:

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox owner John Henry takes angry detour to dress down sports talkers - The Boston Globe

And if you are aware of this or just read the thread- you will know that he then proceeded to throw a number of people under the bus, including the Cubs, Carl Crawford, and his own wife (who apparently will not have ownership of the Sox if he dies). And the worse thing he did was to really drive up the ratings for 98.5 and create a lot of unnecessary PR (that radio station is on the front page of the Boston Globe now) and make those two obnoxious co-hosts very happy at the expense of himself.

I listened to the interview on 98.5 and Henry didn't come across that way at all. He was passionate about his team but he was nearly painstaking on how he tried to avoid throwing people under the bus.

As far as the Crawford deal, I think Henry said he was opposed to it on the basis that Crawford did not fit the normal parameters that the Red Sox look for in a player, the ideal fit would be Gonzalez. Crawford on the other hand with his low obp, being a left handed batter, being mostly a speed based athlete rather than a power hitter did not fit the Sox 'value' profile. But ultimately he did not 'veto' the move because he believed in letting the baseball people make the baseball decisions.

I also don't think he 'threw his wife' under the bus. They were asking on possibly successors to the team if Henry were to die. He said mainly him and Tom Werner ran that team. And when he mentioned his wife, in response to a direct question btw, I think he meant he didn't want to force the stress of owning such a high profile team to a family member.

Henry may be no Kraft, but I don't condemn him for his interview. In fact I think it was refreshing that he was willing to come down to the station and just have it with the hosts and put out what was really going on in his mind and what was behind his decisions to at least give some explanation to the fans for the September meltdown.

I'll say this though. At one point the hosts flat out told Henry that people, fans, etc. flat out HATE Larry Lucchino. I mean that's as plain as you can say it. Henry must now be AWARE how unpopular Lucchino is in Boston. But why is he letting this clown hang around and still poison the attitude towards the Red Sox. I guess he couldn't respond to that directly on air. But still he needs to do SOMETHING about it or he loses credibility to me.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Kraft has never had to deal with the level of criticism and smear that's been thrown this Sox ownerships' way.
The media agenda at work here reminds me so much of the witchhunt that Bill Belichick had to deal with after Spygate.
Oh how interesting.......Belichick despises the media and so does Sox ownership.
Must be just a coincidence seeing the similar personal agenda driven mediot coverage.

How can you say that ... and then bring up spygate in the very next sentence???


In my opinion Kraft has grown and evolved in a very positive way as an owner. Early on he interjected as the deciding opinion to draft Terry Glenn, and became infamous as the owner in Parcell's 'buy the groceries' barb. After that he gave Bledsoe that huge contract that was allegedly done without Belichick's knowledge - something that in retrospect could have caused BB to look for employment elsewhere. But since then I can't think of anything other than the 'apology' comment in regards to the Logan Mankins contract negotiations that could draw some second guessing in terms of his involvement with the football side of the team's operations.

By contrast Henry's comment about a player currently on the roster, who will due to the difference between MLB and NFL contracts will be on the team for several years to come - that is in my opinion a monumental blunder.

On top of that there is Kraft's ability and influence in league-wide affairs (television contracts; CBA negotiations); all in all he is miles ahead of Henry as a sports team owner right now.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Here's a question for whomever moved this thread:

Why is it that in the "Patriots Forum" there are typically a half dozen to a dozen threads that should be in the NFL Forum - because they have zero to do with the Pats but are strictly about the Jets (or Colts, or another player or team), but are allowed to stay there forever - but a thread that is at least 50% about the Pats (i.e., Robert Kraft) gets moved almost immediately?

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Originally Posted by Patspsycho
Earlier this week, there was a thread started that bashed sports radio personnel- which I always thought was an oddity because you had to have to listen to them in the first place before being able to bash them.

Unfortunately, one of those persons exhibiting such odditiy happened to be the Sox's principal owner, Henry, who was listening to 98.5 and got so enraged he drove straight to the radio station to demand air time to argue his point of view in what I think is the biggest PR disaster in Henry's tenure as the owner of the Sox:

Boston Red Sox - Red Sox owner John Henry takes angry detour to dress down sports talkers - The Boston Globe

And if you are aware of this or just read the thread- you will know that he then proceeded to throw a number of people under the bus, including the Cubs, Carl Crawford, and his own wife (who apparently will not have ownership of the Sox if he dies). And the worse thing he did was to really drive up the ratings for 98.5 and create a lot of unnecessary PR (that radio station is on the front page of the Boston Globe now) and make those two obnoxious co-hosts very happy at the expense of himself.

I listened to the interview on 98.5 and Henry didn't come across that way at all. He was passionate about his team but he was nearly painstaking on how he tried to avoid throwing people under the bus.

As far as the Crawford deal, I think Henry said he was opposed to it on the basis that Crawford did not fit the normal parameters that the Red Sox look for in a player, the ideal fit would be Gonzalez. Crawford on the other hand with his low obp, being a left handed batter, being mostly a speed based athlete rather than a power hitter did not fit the Sox 'value' profile. But ultimately he did not 'veto' the move because he believed in letting the baseball people make the baseball decisions.

He didnt throw Crawford or Theo under the bus as the media will have you believe, he said that in response to Mazz and Felger saying Sox ownership forced Crawford on Theo to boost ratings for the Sox, those two have been saying that all year ad nauseaum. He just said he initially opposed the deal and he didnt get into why other than he said we had a lot of left handed bats. If you've listened to John Henry in the past he doesnt like signing high priced free agents seeing how your paying for past production and your signing them to years past their prime.
He also said that he agreed to the signing of Crawford and he defers to the baseball people and it was a baseball signing, not a pr signing, that was his main point.

 

[Deus Irae]

A discussion of two owners, one of whom is Robert Kraft, is suddenly not good enough for the Patriots forum?

 

[captain stone]

I didn't used to feel this way but the more I see of Jonathan the less confident of the future I become. Hope I'm wrong.

Interesting; on what do you base that?

 

[captain stone]

The morale of this thread is, one owner managed to turn himself into an ass, the other doesn't. Very fortunately, this 'other' owner happens to be the one that owns the Patriots, so you could say that I'm celebrating that fact.

I think that no matter what position every one of us occupies in life, there's something that one can learn from all this. Throwing an excellent player who is in year one of his long career with your team is just about one of the worse things you can do. Imagine Welker signing a new contract this off-season and Kraft then saying publicly he was never in support of that.

The lesson that you never speak in anger may be so old, and past cliche, but it has always been true.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but that undisciplined idiot Crawford is not now, nor will ever be an excellent player in this town. And using him & Welker in the same sentence is doing Welker a grave disservice.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I'm curious about what led you to this, specifically. My sense is that Jonathan's the one driving things behind the scenes.

Just an indefensible sense listening to him on radio that he's a more emotional, less business and more strongly opinionated guy than his dad.

 

[captain insano]

lmao another thread started by a pats fan that ends up in the redsox area of the board. lmao

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but that undisciplined idiot Crawford is not now, nor will ever be an excellent player in this town. And using him & Welker in the same sentence is doing Welker a grave disservice

We'll revisit this in a couple years and you'll be proven wrong, hes an excellent player and will have some good years, problem is most fans will never get past the 20 million dollar price tag just like they never have with Drew who was a disciplined and excellent player for 4 years.
Most people didnt realize how solid he was until he wasnt there this year. I like Reddick but hes no Drew and he blew 2 games in rightfield this year that Drew never would have.

 

[scout]

Would Robert Kraft:
-say he would never have signed Albert Haynesworth
-say BB would never stay here forever, while he has a contract with the Pats.
-basically discuss any personal issues inside the organization to the media.