Break: les .. vendent un joueur de renom pour 29 millions de dollars en rentrées.
The Boston Red Sox have a winning record thus far in the season, despite the executive office’s public effort to balance a soft rebuild strategy with fan expectations.
The front management should give up on the uncomfortable balancing act between satisfying fan expectations and the practicalities of their strategy as the trade deadline draws near at the end of next month. They should celebrate the gains from dealing for Nick Pivetta, Kenley Jansen, and Tyler O’Neill, three players with expiring “rental” contracts who have made a combined $29.3 million this season. They have openly given up on their remote chances of making the playoffs this year in favor of a better future.
Caught Up in “Competing Interests”
Until now, Boston Red Sox executives have found themselves torn between satisfying fan expectations that the team will compete for a World Series each year and admitting that the team is rebuilding around young, relatively inexpensive players.
The incident began in January when Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball operations Craig Breslow were unceremoniously heckled at a team function. At the time, both fans and star player Rafael Devers were hoping for bigger offseason roster acquisitions. Kennedy later retracted his statement that the squad had “under-performed” earlier this month as it became clear that supporters did not believe he had improved the club’s chances of winning. The team’s owner, John Henry, gave a more direct quote to the Financial Times in a recent interview, estimating the team’s chances of winning a title at “one in 20 or one in 30.” The players were not happy with this estimate.
Most recently, in an interview with The Athletic, Breslow continues to tread lightly when questioned about the impending trade deadline.
Regarding his propensity to make roster changes, whether targeted at this season or the next, he remarked, “I don’t know that it makes sense to say anything is off the table or anything is off-limits.” “And I’ve decided to try to strike a balance between all of the conflicting interests and act in the organization’s best interests.”
