Red Sox president defends owner John Henry from fan backlash

The Boston Red Sox failed to make the postseason for the third year in a row after finishing the 2024 regular season with a perfectly even 81-81 record.

Their lack of recent success can be directly correlated to ownership’s change in philosophy that has seen them go from one of baseball’s highest-spending teams year after year to a team that’s outside the top 10.

As a result, Boston’s ownership group, specifically John Henry, is receiving a ton of criticism and hasn’t been available to answer questions in years. So, fans are rightly upset and questioning whether on not he cares about the team he bought over 20 years ago.

In a recent appearance on MassLive’s “Fenway Rundown” podcast with Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy came to his bosses’ defense.

“I would say that I spoke with John in the past couple of hours about the 2024-25 Red Sox. We speak just about every day. He speaks to [Craig Breslow] just about every day,” Kennedy said. “There is this perception of John, largely driven by people who aren’t dealing with him, who don’t talk to him regularly, that maybe, somehow, he’s not actively involved. I can assure you, he’s on the most important committees in Major League Baseball. He’s leading our franchise as our principal owner. He does give us a lot of rope in management, in me as CEO, Bres as CBO, but he is incredibly involved and is as passionate about the team as he’s ever has been.

“What we talked about literally today was this incredible set of building blocks that we have in place, and how, while how disappointing 2024 was, how exciting the baseball project is, how invested he is, I am, Mike Gordon is, Theo Epstein is into Craig Breslow and what he’s building in terms of how he’s building out his staff, his team, where he’s prioritizing our spend and our investment. I would say that John, as I am, as our whole ownership group is, is optimistic about the future, also frustrated about the last few years. John’s been in baseball since the late 1980s maybe 1990 or so, and I can’t tell you excruciating seasons are where you’re .500 or even below .500 when you’re not headed for the postseason. It’s painful, and John feels that as much as anyone.”

Kennedy may say that Henry cares about the franchise, and that may be true, but if so, he hasn’t shown it at all publicly. The team has significantly cut spending, and he’s not accountable for that or the team’s performance.

If Henry barged into the studios at 98.5 The Sports Hub again to defend himself, he’d gain some of that respect back with the fans. However, even just holding a press conference or agreeing to an interview would be a good first step.