The made the postseason last season after going 89-73, marking their first playoff berth since 2021. This season, they’ve followed that up by starting the season 29-37. They sit in last place in the AL East, 13 ½ games out of first place. This is the first time they’ve been 12 games under .500 since 2020. The last time they were 12 under in June, however, was 1997.
“I think it’s important here at the outset to acknowledge how embarrassing, unacceptable, maddening, frustrating — whatever words you want to use — the past two and a half months have been,” Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said Thursday on . “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. It’s been awful, especially when you consider the stated goal of building upon what happened last season (after reaching the postseason).”
The Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora earlier this season and the team has gone 17-22 since. They rank 29th in runs scored, 26th in OPS and their ace, , is hurt with no return in sight.
Some of the personnel issues can be traced to signing late last offseason, triggering a series of events that eventually led to trading to the . Bregman signed elsewhere this past offseason and , the top prize of the Devers trade, was traded to Milwaukee for . Durbin has been bad (69 OPS+) while Harrison has thrived.
This isn’t every issue, of course. There are many. Younger players haven’t developed quite as hoped and some veterans haven’t pulled their weight. Beyond Sale, Roman Anthony and Trevor Story have also spent much of the season on the IL. Some moves have worked, such as trading for , but the positives this season look like outliers.
All of this becomes a roundabout way of asking if the job of Chief Baseball Officer is in jeopardy. He’s held the position since October of 2023 and the general trajectory seems poor right now. Sure, they made the playoffs last season, but is 89 wins and a Wild Card Series loss to the enough to buy extra years of job security in Boston?
“I fully understand the questions about Craig Breslow and his job security and all of that, but the issue of change there, just to be clear, is not on the table,” Kennedy said. “He is working as hard as anyone to get things back on track.”
Maybe he should’ve added a “yet” onto the end of that statement, because …
“But let’s be honest, unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was,” Kennedy added. “It wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise. We’re here in mid-June, and we have to see what happens over the next couple weeks and then we’ll reassess.”
The Red Sox return home from a road trip on Friday with some opportunities ahead of them. They are 5 ½ games out of the American League wild-card race right now and face the (who currently hold that third and final wild-card berth) for three games in Fenway this weekend. Next up is a three-game series against the , who are a disappointing 33-36 yet only one game out of a playoff spot. It’s possible the Red Sox could feast in these games and put themselves right in the thick of the race.
Of course, they don’t have the look of a team ready to bust loose. They’ve lost four in a row and six of their last eight. And Kennedy is watching.
