Brace yourselves: Winter Weekend is coming.
On Wednesday, the team sent out a press release announcing recently-named Red Sox Hall of Famer and fan favorite Jonathan Papelbon as the host of the Friday welcome event at the eighth annual Red Sox Winter Weekend in Springfield from January 19-20.
“The Friday night event will open with the introduction of the 2024 players and coaches followed by ‘The Cinco Ocho Show with Jonathan Papelbon,’ a late-night talk show-style segment. Alongside co-host Tom Caron of NESN, Papelbon will lead conversations about the upcoming season and the state of the club…”
In any other year, Papelbon alone might be worth the price of admission. We already know he tells it how it is, and putting him in a setting with a bunch of revved-up and rowdy Red Sox fans should bring out the best (a.k.a. chaos) in him.
In all, the team announced 27 players, 10 coaches — including Alex Cora and Andrew Bailey — 10 prospects — most notably Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony — and 12 alumni — David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and Dennis Eckersley among them.
Of the nearly sixty attendees announced, two notable names were nowhere to be found: John Henry and Tom Werner.
I followed up with the Red Sox’s PR department to ask if either Henry or Werner would be in attendance, particularly for the Q&A portion that is usually the highlight of the weekend. A team spokesperson responded by saying “we likely won’t have details on participants until closer to Winter Weekend.”
Asked @RedSox PR if John Henry or Tom Werner would be attending Winter Weekend, particularly the Q&A: “We likely won’t have details on participants until closer to Winter Weekend.” #RedSox #DirtyWater
— Gethin Coolbaugh (@GethinCoolbaugh) January 10, 2024
Interesting, to say the least…
(Now, to be fair, Craig Breslow wasn’t included in this release, either. Yet it would be very strange for the team’s newly named Chief Baseball Officer to be absent from his first major event with fans. I would be shocked if he wasn't there.)
For reference, I did a quick search in my inbox for the team’s past Winter Weekend press releases to recall how they announced the featured guest. In a release dated January 13, 2020 (as pictured below), the following names and titles were prominently featured under the “WHO” section: Principal Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, President and CEO Sam Kennedy, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, General Manager Brian O’Halloran, Manager Alex Cora.”
It’s also noteworthy to point out that that release promised those names would participate in “an interactive Town Hall meeting.” As for this year’s Winter Weekend press release? There’s not a single mention of any members of ownership or the front office. And the words “town hall” are nowhere to be found.
Where am I going with this? I think you all know…
It sure seems like the Red Sox are gearing up to hold their featured fan event of the offseason without a prominent member of the team’s ownership group in attendance. Why exactly? Well, because you folks were meanies last year and booed an innocent John Henry, who tried to explain to you that “it’s expensive to have baseball players.” (Unless, of course, you watched the NESN/state media-doctored version of the event where not a single soul booed Mr. Henry. The same was not true for old friend Chaim Bloom, of course. Henry and NESN decided to let him have it…)
If Winter Weekend rolls around a week from Friday and Henry and Werner are nowhere to be found? I’ve got three words for both of them…
Weak. Pathetic. Cowardly.
In the words of President Harry Truman, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
A.k.a. sell the team.
Now, what’s most likely to happen is the team will send Kennedy as a “representative of ownership. But that simply doesn’t cut it. Sam Kennedy does not own the Boston Red Sox. Sam Kennedy does not have the final say over baseball decisions for the Boston Red Sox. If (in recent years, more like when) there is no other representative of upper management available for comment, then Kennedy is a fair target for criticism. But sending Kennedy alone as a proxy should not be tolerated by the fanbase.
It needs to be Henry and Werner. And if not Henry, it should at least be Mr. “Full Throttle” Werner. After all, Henry is not the one who opened his mouth an promised this team would go “full throttle” this offseason … because Henry didn’t say a peep at his only Red Sox-related appearance this offseason when the team introduced Breslow.
I still cannot figure out for the life of me why he would offer that up unprompted. Tom Werner is a smart guy. I just don’t understand…
I won’t sit here and tell anyone what to do with their hard-earned money. But the reality is that the Red Sox do not deserve your dollars and cents next weekend in Springfield — especially if they do not produce Henry and Werner to face the music.
But there’s still time for the Red Sox to get this right. Nine days, to be exact. It’s entirely possible the Red Sox do announce Henry’s and Werner’s attendance. A note at the end of Wednesday’s press release noted that “additional information on media access and interview availabilities will be sent closer to the event.”
But I certainly won’t be holding my breath, and you shouldn’t either…
(In closing, I will give the Red Sox credit for one thing they absolutely got right about this Winter Weekend. After Friday’s promised talk-show segment with Papelbon and company, the team said “the evening will conclude with a reflection on the life of Tim Wakefield.” Bravo. Well done. No matter how bad or discouraging the product on the field has become, I think we can all agree that it’s worthwhile to remember and celebrate the player — and more importantly, the man — that was Tim Wakefield.)