At long last, the words we’ve all been waiting to hear. Now in his 70s, the owner of the Red Sox is finally ready to sell the team.
"I'm 78. It's time to sell the team,” he said in an appearance on the “UnAnchored Boston with Bob Lobel & Mike Lynch” podcast this week. "I've been at this for over 40 years, so it's time sell this team and move on.”
Can you believe it? Well, you shouldn’t… those words were actually spoken by the owner of the Worcester Red Sox.
Alas, it was too good to be true. You didn’t actually think John Henry was going anywhere, did you? Nope, the 74-year-old owner of the Boston Red Sox — who acts like he’s sometimes forgotten that he still owns the Boston Red Sox — is sticking around for the foreseeable future.
However, Larry Lucchino is ready to move on to “a blissful retirement” after owning the WooSox since 2015. He’s certainly earned it after being part of the management team that helped Boston win three World Series championships from 2002 to 2015.
His legacy at the minor league level probably depends on who you ask. Ask someone in Worcester, they’re likely to give him a passing grade. He brought Triple-A baseball to the “Heart of the Commonwealth” in 2021, built the quintessential minor league stadium in Polar Park and orchestrated three straight winning seasons right off the bat.
Ask someone in Pawtucket, however…
I was torn about the move from Pawtucket to Worcester at the time. There was something romantic about McCoy Stadium. Was it in a great location? Was it ritzy? Was it modern? None of the above. It was a quaint old ballyard where you could get a cheap ticket, some affordable ballpark food and see the Red Sox stars of tomorrow. And that was really nice.
Moving the team to Worcester ultimately made too much sense from a business perspective, though. If you haven’t been yet, do yourself a favor and catch a game at Polar Park next season. It is everything you’d want a minor league baseball park to be.
For all of this, Mr. Lucchino, Red Sox Nation is forever grateful. Enjoy your blissful retirement.
Breslow makes nice with Boras
It’s always wise to play nice with the most influential people in your industry, especially when you’re just starting out.
Craig Breslow did just that with super agent Scott Boras at last week’s GM meetings (before they abruptly ended early due to a spreading stomach virus). The new CBO of the Red Sox also made sure to send a message that the big-spending Red Sox of old are making a comeback.
“They certainly appeared as though they really wanted to remove themselves from the standing of where they’re at now and get to a competitive level,” Boras told reporters. “That was a very clear message on their part.”
Good job, Craig. Boras is a polarizing figure in the sport who can rub fans and media alike the wrong way, but the reality is that the baseball players he represents are always among the biggest difference-makers available in the sport.
Juan Soto, Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Rhys Hoskins, Hyun-jin Ryu, Julio Urias. You get the picture.
Breslow putting on a smile and a good face in his Red Sox front office debut interaction with Boras was the smart play. The time will come for him to play hardball with Boras and his counterparts, but it’s encouraging to see Breslow making a positive impression on the sport’s most influential agent.
Breslow making Cora earn it?
While Breslow isn’t playing hardball with Boras just yet, he might already be doing so with Alex Cora.
After confirming Cora will be the manager in his first season — but nothing more — in his inaugural press conference, Breslow was again noncommittal about the skipper’s future beyond the 2024 season.
Breslow at the GM meetings said he will engage with Cora “when the time is right” and that both he and Cora are “preparing for the 2024 season.” Breslow added, “Beyond that, I don’t think it makes a ton of sense to speak to.”
That is not exactly a ringing endorsement. Breslow said he is in constant communication with Cora and previously confirmed that he would have input in the front office’s decision-making process, but he’s clearly not sold that Cora is “the guy” moving forward.
And should he really be? Cora was the right man for the job in 2018 and remains a good major league manager. But he’s far from the only guy capable of getting the job done. Again, Breslow is likely going to be hesitant to rush into making a move that will define his legacy.
If and when he does make a change, the clock starts ticking and it all lies on Breslow’s shoulders — the praise or the blame.
Gleyber Day?
A certain member of the New York Yankees is catching the eye of the Red Sox’s front office.
Per Rob Bradford at WEEI.com, Yanks infielder Gleyber Torres is drawing interest as a possible solution to the team’s recent rotating door at second base. Bradfo reports that the Sox brass sees Torres as an “excellent fit” who would provide “the kind of stability at second base the team didn’t possess in 2023.”
So what do we think of Torres as the answer at second? The 26-year-old had a solid sixth big league season in 2023, boasting a .273 average with 25 homers and 68 RBIs in a career-high 158 games.
Torres is definitely an intriguing option. He’s still relatively young and could provide the team with long-term stability at the position, although he will be a free agent following his final season of arbitration eligibility this year (Bradford reports his salary figure for 2024 is expected to be around $14 million).
So what would it cost them? Well, according to Bradford, the Yankees remain interested in outfielder Alex Verdugo. Both are headed into contract years and both represent positions of need for the Red Sox.
Offensively, Torres has been more productive than Verdugo and would bring more power to the table. Either way, a move — or lack thereof — still leaves an immediate hole that the team must address this offseason.
Bauer Outage in Boston?
Old friend Mookie Betts raised eyebrows recently with his comments about controversial free agent starter Trevor Bauer.
Not only did Betts encourage teams to sign the embattled former Cy Young Award winner, he went as far as to say he is an “awesome guy.”
It’s perplexing to see Mookie -- a former MVP and multi-time World Series champion -- stick his neck out for a guy so embroiled in controversy as Bauer. Bauer was assessed a record 324-game suspension in 2022 (which was later reduced to 194 games) for violating MLB’s domestic abuse policy after being accused of sexual assault by a San Diego woman.
While prosecutors found no evidence to back the accuser's claims and he did not face any criminal charges (Bauer and his accuser have since settled their lawsuits out of court without any money exchanged), bringing on a player with such a tarnished reputation would be a head-scratcher for a Red Sox organization trying to get back in the good graces of fans.
We know the Red Sox need starting pitcher, and Bauer was once one of the game’s premier arms. But he hasn’t pitched in the majors in over two seasons and will be 33 years old by the start of the 2024 season.
It reminds me of the Mitchell Miller situation a season ago with the Boston Bruins. Off to a record start, the Bruins made the inexplicable move of signing the disgraced Miller — who had been previously charged with and admitted to bullying a Black developmentally disabled classmate in the eighth grade — to an entry-level contract, kicking off a nationwide storm of outrage.
It reeked of desperation for a B’s team that hadn’t drafted particularly well and was looking for young talent any way they could find it. While Miller's and Bauer's situations are not exactly alike, a move by the Sox to sign Bauer with so many other capable arms available on the market seems unnecessary.
It would signal that the team had to scrape the bottom of the barrel with hopes of finding talent that might be able to help dig them out of the hole they’re in. Frankly, it would seem beneath the Red Sox to do so.
Ohtani's balancing act
While it doesn’t exactly have anything to do with the Red Sox (yet), free agent Shohei Ohtani’s donation of some 60,000 youth baseball gloves to roughly 20,000 elementary schools in his native Japan is deserving of commendation.
It’s always uplifting to see the face of a major sports league step up to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. That can go a long way, and I tip my cap to Ohtani for such an incredibly generous donation.
From a local perspective, though, it’s interesting to note that the gloves Ohtani donated are from corporate partner New Balance, which is of course headquartered here in Boston.
Is Ohtani going to sign with the Red Sox just because they happen to play in the same town as one of the interests in his business portfolio? No, of course not. He’s ultimately going to sign on the dotted line with the team that writes him the biggest check.
Yet the Ohtani-New Balance connection makes the Red Sox’s rumored interest in him a little more intriguing.
Gethin Coolbaugh is a contributor to Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.