BOSTON — With a nine-game winning streak no one saw coming, the Boston Red Sox have revived one of Major League Baseball’s favorite home games. It’s called “Buyers or Sellers?” For example: Should the Sox be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? Call now. The lines are open.
But let’s say the Red Sox Certainly will buy even if they lean more towards Target than Saks. (Welcome to Boston, Jamai Jones!) With the Sox just a half-game behind in the three-game race for third place in the American League, it would be an insult to their fans not to put up a fight. October baseball is still October baseball.
True, this is the same organization that endorsed Mookie Betts’ gift package to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 and then tried to sell it as a shrewd roster build. That was six years ago, and a different man (Chaim Bloom) was running the baseball operations than the guy who’s there now (Craig Breslow), but the ownership group that ordered goodbye to Mookie is still in place to say hello to any new acquisitions.
John Henry, the majority owner, has been a regular at Fenway Park this season. This means he saw the message “SELL YOUR TEAM!” posters and heard chants. If he finds himself at Fenway Park on Friday afternoon for the first game of a day-night doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays, which kicks off the post-All-Star portion of the schedule, chances are most fans will be too busy applauding All-Star first baseman/barrel of dynamite Wilson Contreras to ridicule the owner. That doesn’t mean Henry and the rest of the ownership group deserve a collective guy. Even with injuries that sidelined regular ace Garrett Crochet, budding star Roman Anthony, veteran shortstop Trevor Story and others, this lineup was awkwardly constructed from the start.
If Henry and club chairman Tom Werner (who I have always felt is fan in the owners’ wing) can take a few minutes during this homestand to go out onto Jersey Street and talk to their fans, which is what they did on opening day in 2002. As new owners, they might be pleasantly surprised to find that the winning streak has awakened New England. I admit that my own fan polling is limited to the usual set of people I consult with on these issues, such as Nick, who works at my local coffee shop. (“My roommates really agreed, so I guess I did too,” Nick told me a few minutes ago as I stood in line for a refill.)
Please don’t confuse me with your snarky counterpoint that six of those nine straight wins came over the perpetually inept Los Angeles Angels and the galactically overrated New York Mets. I don’t care if that streak included six wins over the Sanford Miners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Nine in a row is nine in a row.
Plus, the Red Sox have been fun lately. The defense was amazing, especially from center fielder Seddan Rafaela. Caleb Durbin, built more as a third-and-first linebacker than a third baseman, hit .325 over his last 23 games, raising his batting average from .190 to .228. He also has some success (nine home runs) on a team that is woefully short of long ball hitters, a problem that dates back to last Christmas. Lefty Payton Tolle, who is only 23 years old, has great character and great qualities. He would have fit in so well with the then Big Papis of Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon and Kevin Millar of the Red Sox. (Am I the only one who sees similarities between Tolle and the character “Justin” from the Stop & Shop “Good Things in Store” commercial?)
One of the unfortunate byproducts of the 21st-century championship streak in the Boston sports market (six from the Patriots, four from the Red Sox, two from the Celtics and one from the Bruins) is that the underdog type of teams are no longer celebrated. Either win it all or fire them all. However, while Sox fans have every right to continue to raise questions about ownership, it is not the fault of the current players. While they could have easily left, they did not. Then Breslow should help them.
This team needs one or two power forwards. And if one of those power forwards is a veteran who can bring leadership to the club, so much the better. As much excitement as Contreras brings to the Red Sox, he can’t continue to doggedly fight every real or imagined snub. The word is out: all it takes is a Moon Graham-style wink aimed in his direction to make him overreact. Contreras recently said he’s going to take it easy from here on out, and that’s good news for the Red Sox.
I know what some of you are thinking: Boston’s nine-game winning streak and the resulting hype could very well give Red Sox management the opportunity to make some show-pony deals leading up to the trade deadline. You know, do just enough to whet the appetite of the ticket-buying masses. And then, in the offseason, the Sox could return to the same storyline of being “involved” with this or that player who ends up signing with another player. (All of this assumes MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association don’t get into a barrel or two and go over the edge in Lockout Falls.)
Remember, this Red Sox property was present throughout four World Series championships, the first of which, in 2004, inspired then-Sox catcher Jason Varitek to shout, “I’ll never have to hear that ‘1918’ chant again!” inside the champagne-soaked visitors’ clubhouse at Busch II Stadium. The Red Sox owners have cleverly done several renovations to Fenway Park without sacrificing its unique quaintness and historical significance. This Red Sox property continues to be protected by the Jimmy Fund, the fundraising arm of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
It’s a possession that now mirrors its own hitters in the sense that it doesn’t require much big hitting, and when it does, it tends to hit back that way. Sooner or later, Red Sox fans will stop playing Charlie Brown in Lucy’s football. Now is the time to address this issue. And the offseason — again, assuming there’s a ball game in 2027 — will be a time for owners to bolster their faith in building strong rosters rather than believing they’re good enough to earn a wild-card spot.
Good enough to earn a wild-card spot at this point.