It would be an understatement to say that the 2026 Boston Red Sox's performance through the first month of the season has fallen drastically short of expectations. Despite a reinforced starting rotation and incredibly improved defense, Craig Breslow's Red Sox can't string enough runs together to overcome a three-run deficit in any given game.
Their performance reflects poorly on Red Sox ownership, which was just beginning to claw back into fans' good graces after signing Alex Bregman before the 2025 campaign. But that same front office declared less than a year later that no-trade clauses go against "organizational policy," which cost Boston its leader and best all-around player.
Fans have begun giving ownership, John Henry and Fenway Sports Group (FSG) a piece of their mind. "Sell the team" chants have rung out at Fenway Park on a few occasions. At the same time, fans of Liverpool F.C., the Premier League soccer club that Henry and FSG also own, are protesting a significant hike in ticket prices (subscription required).
Henry hasn't appeared in front of Boston media for interviews or to answer questions since 2020 and there's no sign of that changing, despite the immense disappointment the Red Sox have been. Henry did, however, recently answer questions via email, as he's done a few times before. Some of the quotes that appeared in Bill King's article for Sports Business Journal haven't sat well with Red Sox fans.
“Fans get frustrated,” Henry wrote. “The Sox looked terrible for (their) first 25 games. I remember a plane flying overhead when we (Liverpool) were beating Manchester United 7-0 that read ‘FSG OUT!’
“It doesn’t mean you ignore them, it means you work harder – you don’t settle for mediocrity. You have to win."
John Henry's latest email interview leaves Red Sox fans with much to be desired
First, the Red Sox looking terrible has continued past their first 25 games. The offense is still unreliable, the lineup lacks any source of consistent power and the starting rotation hasn't lived up to the hype. To use a word Henry used, the team is entirely mediocre — or maybe even worse than that.
Sure, Roman Anthony will wake up eventually (if he can stay healthy), Caleb Durbin will show up at some point and Garrett Crochet will find himself again. But shuffling the same lineup of players who can't hit until that time is the definition of mediocre. Going from a lineup with Bregman and Rafael Devers to one without both in less than a year isn't just mediocre, it's butchery, a complete hack-job.
Breslow didn't make those decisions alone and he doesn't set organizational policy. The Red Sox refused to set Bregman up with a no-trade clause if he re-signed with the club for the rest of his career because Henry and FSG wanted the permission to jerk him around and move on from him whenever they wanted, which is not only uncompetitive, it's a small market attitude, and small market the Red Sox are not.
Henry's quotes on trying to win will ring hollow to Red Sox fans until he literally puts his money where his mouth is. Reporting from over the offseason stated that the Red Sox organization no longer "believes in long-term deals" for players over a certain age, which just so happens to be the age most players reach free agency. The best teams pay the best players on the market to give themselves the best chance to win each year, as the Los Angeles Dodgers have shown. The Red Sox used to rank consistently among them as one of the top teams in the league, but a change in free agent philosophy has changed that, all motivated by money.
Henry and FSG's actions don't match up with their stated goals, which has been the case for the last six years at least. If FSG wants Red Sox fans to believe that they're playing to win, they should act like it — sign the players they need rather than the less expensive ones or trade candidates that could meet their needs.
Add us as a preferred source on Google