John Henry: Fan expectations are unrealistic

[maust]

Didn’t watch one game the past two seasons. Not one.

Every time I see Mookie Betts on the highlight reels make me feel ok about it.

Only saw the Sox on national broadcasts this year. Cancelled NESN when their Bruins game coverage stopped and restarted the subscription for hockey season. I know Henry & Co own the controlling interest in NESN but the Sox aren't getting a penny out of me I can avoid giving them.

 

[Steve102]

Didn’t watch one game the past two seasons. Not one.

Every time I see Mookie Betts on the highlight reels make me feel ok about it.

Same. I want to be a fan and support them, but the only way I can share my displeasure is to not watch them and not buy tix. I make sure as soon as the Bruins are done I cancel NESN to send the message.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

It's not realistic to expect a championship every year. It is perfectly reasonable to expect that the team will be in the running nearly every year, barring injuries.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Same. I want to be a fan and support them, but the only way I can share my displeasure is to not watch them and not buy tix. I make sure as soon as the Bruins are done I cancel NESN to send the message.

I remember the Red Sox being defended for their spending back in the day. Much like the Yankees and the Yes network, the Sox own 80% of NESN, which I thought was a reason why the owner had the cash to put back into the teams payroll. That along with sellout crowds and merchandising. Unfortunately there are still die hards that go, no matter what and its a stadium/park that’s on everyones bucket list to visit. We’ll never make a dent or change how he runs things Appreciate the spending to be competitive over the years, but now he just really needs to sell if he’s done trying to win.

 

[maust]

I remember the Red Sox being defended for their spending back in the day. Much like the Yankees and the Yes network, the Sox own 80% of NESN, which I thought was a reason why the owner had the cash to put back into the teams payroll. That along with sellout crowds and merchandising. Unfortunately there are still die hards that go, no matter what and its a stadium/park that’s on everyones bucket list to visit. We’ll never make a dent or change how he runs things Appreciate the spending to be competitive over the years, but now he just really needs to sell if he’s done trying to win.

Unfortunately Henry isn't letting go of the cash cow's teat until ol' Bessie squirts out nothing but dust. They've managed to turn going to Fenway into a life experience rather than attending a sporting event. The actual game is secondary at best. Come to Fenway! Experience living history!
A competitive team? We don't need no stinkin' competitive team! Look at this jewel of a park, experience Americana the way your great-grandfather did!!! Don't forget to buy a brick and a pink hat!

(assholes)

 

[ViperGTS]

Henry is right. Good players are expensive. Right now they have a loaded farm system, and some good young talent at the MLB level. Better to develop and pay your own studs than trade or get them in FA. Now they need a stud pitcher in FA but their position players are pretty damn good and if you haven't noticed they have the number 1 prospect in all of baseball in Roman Anthony.

Fans in general sucks ass and it's usually the dumbass media that makes it so. The future of the Red Sox is bright as the sun right now and sure it has taken some time but its about to pay off in a big, big way.

The Red Sox starting next season IF they get a ToR guy and upgrade the pen, are going to a wagon.

 

[maust]

The Red Sox starting next season IF they get a ToR guy and upgrade the pen, are going to a wagon.

Until it's time for anyone to get paid

 

[ViperGTS]

Until it's time for anyone to get paid

They paid Devers, Bello and Rafaela. That's the new formula in baseball. You have to draft and develop well, pick those you want to extend then trade the ones you don't.

 

[maust]

They paid Devers, Bello and Rafaela. That's the new formula in baseball. You have to draft and develop well, pick those you want to extend then trade the ones you don't.

I half bought that when Betts left thinking Boegarts would be kept. They only paid Devers because of the backlash, he should have been extended well before he was. Bello and Rafaela were extended on the (relative) cheap with the team having plenty of control left on both.
This isn't a small market team, F them for acting like it is. To whom much is given much is expected of. Plenty of Sox fans are done drinking the Kool Aid, leaves more for the Henry fans that remain

 

[1960Pats]

Henry is right. Good players are expensive. Right now they have a loaded farm system, and some good young talent at the MLB level. Better to develop and pay your own studs than trade or get them in FA. Now they need a stud pitcher in FA but their position players are pretty damn good and if you haven't noticed they have the number 1 prospect in all of baseball in Roman Anthony.

Fans in general sucks ass and it's usually the dumbass media that makes it so. The future of the Red Sox is bright as the sun right now and sure it has taken some time but its about to pay off in a big, big way.

The Red Sox starting next season IF they get a ToR guy and upgrade the pen, are going to a wagon.

So it's the media's fault that John Henry has no interest in putting out a team that can win? I don't think so.

They should go after that kid in LA, Mookie Betts. He's a generational talent.

On the bright side, I'm hearing that Henry and the FSG are out of the Celtics sale but are now interested in the NBA in Vegas, with LeBrick as their front man.

 

[Steve102]

Henry is right. Good players are expensive. Right now they have a loaded farm system, and some good young talent at the MLB level. Better to develop and pay your own studs than trade or get them in FA.

Messers Betts and Bogaerts have entered the chat.

 

[ViperGTS]

I half bought that when Betts left thinking Boegarts would be kept. They only paid Devers because of the backlash, he should have been extended well before he was. Bello and Rafaela were extended on the (relative) cheap with the team having plenty of control left on both.
This isn't a small market team, F them for acting like it is. To whom much is given much is expected of. Plenty of Sox fans are done drinking the Kool Aid, leaves more for the Henry fans that remain

Boegarts has been a failure in San Diego you should be thanking god that they didn't sign him. The guy I wanted them to get last year was Yamamoto. He wanted LA period. The gambler wasn't coming east either so that wasn't happening.

I'd like to see them try to pry Vlad Jr from the Blue Jays in the offseason and pair him up with Devers kinda like Manny and Ortiz. In baseball most FA don't generally work out and I'd lean more into the pitchers because thats generally a known quantity.

Am I happy with the past two years? Nope, but they are very very close and they know it. People act like they are stupid. They aren't and you need a long term plan to figure out the money. Want to be the Dodgers and pay every 5 dollars now, and two billion dollars in 10 years, be my guest.

 

[ViperGTS]

Messers Betts and Bogaerts have entered the chat.

Betts WAS NOT SIGNING HERE. People need to get that out of their minds. He wasn't. He wanted out, Boston wasn't right for him or his wife so that was it and that is 100000 percent fine. He doesn't have the makeup to stay in a place like Boston long term.

Boegarts as I have stated wasn't worth the contract he got. The Padres are regretting that one. Betts, until now can't hit consistently in the post season, see if it lasts.

 

[maust]

People act like they are stupid. They aren't and you need a long term plan to figure out the money. Want to be the Dodgers and pay every 5 dollars now, and two billion dollars in 10 years, be my guest.

I can't speak to what some unknown group of 'people' are acting like but you've missed the point of the other posters here. We don't think Henry & Co are stupid at all. What we know is they're treating the fans like we are.

As for Boegarts, he succeeded here. He was a 'homegrown' fan favorite here.

 

[Clonamery]

I can't speak to what some unknown group of 'people' are acting like but you've missed the point of the other posters here. We don't think Henry & Co are stupid at all. What we know is they're treating the fans like we are.

As for Boegarts, he succeeded here. He was a 'homegrown' fan favorite here.

The Liverpool fans feel exactly the same....

 

[ViperGTS]

I can't speak to what some unknown group of 'people' are acting like but you've missed the point of the other posters here. We don't think Henry & Co are stupid at all. What we know is they're treating the fans like we are.

I think they got scared by the stupid contracts coming out and might have thought they had a shot at the gambling man. When that didn't happen they needed to pivot.

This will be the offseason in my option to see where they really are at. They have a log jam of lefty hitters, so let's see who they decide to move and for what. I want Corbin Burnes badly for the top of the rotation.

 

[ViperGTS]

The Liverpool fans feel exactly the same....

I'm not up on Premier league stuff....but hasn't Liverpool been at the top of the standings and won a couple titles since they purchased them?

 

[Clonamery]

I'm not up on Premier league stuff....but hasn't Liverpool been at the top of the standings and won a couple titles since they purchased them?

One PL Championship. Doesn't mean the fans like him at all.

 

[maust]

I think they got scared by the stupid contracts coming out and might have thought they had a shot at the gambling man. When that didn't happen they needed to pivot.

They should have done with Betts what they did with Rafaela. That's not giving them a pat on the back for the Bello and Rafaela contracts, it's recognizing they smartened up and acted in their own self interest. The writing was on the wall once they took Betts to arbitration, from there he was committed to getting to FA and no one can blame him.

The issue many of us have with Sox ownership isn't so much their supposed 'team building' approach. It's the BS they're selling about it while busily milking out every dime. Look at the other teams in town. Whether we agree with how they're going about it or not, they're obviously committed to winning. I was chairman of the Jeremy Jacobs Is A Cheapass Carpetbagger Club for decades. Yet even I had to admit he never lied about it, he said it was a business and was going to be run like one. He would not go in the red even when the B's were within spitting distance (a couple of mid level contracts) of a Cup. That said he also fought for the salary cap that saved the game and since it's inception and the 'cost certainty' he longed for he has kept his word and spent to it every year. Kraft gets ragged on as 'cheap' but serious fans know that's BS, when the train was still on the tracks he spent to the cap every year. The current situation is in flux not due to his being cheap or not caring about winning but due to a failure of the front office that he rightly (based on past performance) let hold the reins. No one can question how committed Grousbeck & the Celts are to winning. Compare that to Werner lying about the Sox plans to spend and this ownership saying with a straight face this team was competitive.

So as fans here we are. Jacobs spending to the cap in spite of a nightly packed house, Grousbeck has if anything overspent and Kraft has earned the benefit of a doubt and is at least honest about the state of the team and fell on his sword, firing the still immensely popular Belichick. Henry and Co aren't committed to anything but the bottom line. As much as we'd like to think different, it's their business even while it's 'our' team. It's 100 % their right to run it as they see fit. Maybe I could be more accepting of that if they handled themselves like Jacobs back in the day. Instead they piss on our heads, tell us it's rain then sell us an overpriced umbrella and a pink Sox rain hat with Sweet Caroline playing in the background.

If my rantings make me sound like a Sox version of some ungrateful Johnny come lately Pats fan, keep in mind there's several decades of Sox fandom behind it. One of my most cherished sports memories is of my grandfather getting my ass out of school to go see Teddy Ballgame's final game. Even though he'd been in the ground 34 years the morning after the 2004 WS win I took the Lynn Item, Globe and Herald to his grave. It was like a sacred sports pilgrimage for me. Not ashamed to admit it surprised me when I cried like a baby kneeling at his headstone. That's the level of fandom this cynical greedy ownership has managed to alienate. No small (ahem) 'accomplishment'

 

[Steve102]

They should have done with Betts what they did with Rafaela. That's not giving them a pat on the back for the Bello and Rafaela contracts, it's recognizing they smartened up and acted in their own self interest. The writing was on the wall once they took Betts to arbitration, from there he was committed to getting to FA and no one can blame him.

The issue many of us have with Sox ownership isn't so much their supposed 'team building' approach. It's the BS they're selling about it while busily milking out every dime. Look at the other teams in town. Whether we agree with how they're going about it or not, they're obviously committed to winning. I was chairman of the Jeremy Jacobs Is A Cheapass Carpetbagger Club for decades. Yet even I had to admit he never lied about it, he said it was a business and was going to be run like one. He would not go in the red even when the B's were within spitting distance (a couple of mid level contracts) of a Cup. That said he also fought for the salary cap that saved the game and since it's inception and the 'cost certainty' he longed for he has kept his word and spent to it every year. Kraft gets ragged on as 'cheap' but serious fans know that's BS, when the train was still on the tracks he spent to the cap every year. The current situation is in flux not due to his being cheap or not caring about winning but due to a failure of the front office that he rightly (based on past performance) let hold the reins. No one can question how committed Grousbeck & the Celts are to winning. Compare that to Werner lying about the Sox plans to spend and this ownership saying with a straight face this team was competitive.

So as fans here we are. Jacobs spending to the cap in spite of a nightly packed house, Grousbeck has if anything overspent and Kraft has earned the benefit of a doubt and is at least honest about the state of the team and fell on his sword, firing the still immensely popular Belichick. Henry and Co aren't committed to anything but the bottom line. As much as we'd like to think different, it's their business even while it's 'our' team. It's 100 % their right to run it as they see fit. Maybe I could be more accepting of that if they handled themselves like Jacobs back in the day. Instead they piss on our heads, tell us it's rain then sell us an overpriced umbrella and a pink Sox rain hat with Sweet Caroline playing in the background.

If my rantings make me sound like a Sox version of some ungrateful Johnny come lately Pats fan, keep in mind there's several deades of Sox fandom behind it. One of my most cherished sports memories is of my grandfather getting my ass out of school to go see Teddy Ballgame's final game. Even though he'd been in the ground 34 years the morning after the 2004 WS win I took the Lynn Item, Globe and Herald to his grave. It was like a sacred sports pilgrimage for me. Not ashamed to admit it surprised me when I cried like a baby kneeling at his headstone. That's the level of fandom this cynical greedy ownership has managed to alienate. No small (ahem) 'accomplishment'

You have perfectly summed up my thoughts on the Red Sox situation perfectly. I salute you.