Red Sox fans and MLB reporters and personalities have questioned Boston's 2023-24 offseason plan ... and really most things they have done since the conclusion of the 2018 World Series.
Fingers have been pointed in all directions to try and come up with an explanation for what the organization is doing. From former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom to CEO and president Sam Kennedy, no one in the front office has been safe from blame in the news, on social media or otherwise.
The blame game has finally reached the highest level of baseball reporting. MLB insider and known New York guy Jon Heyman has taken aim at John Henry and Fenway Sports Group to try and explain Boston's inexplicable philosophy.
He didn't say anything Red Sox Nation hasn't already known for months, but it's promising to hear someone as high-profile in the baseball business as Heyman calling Henry and FSG out for their shenanigans.
MLB insider Jon Heyman criticizes John Henry and Fenway Sports Group for decline in Red Sox on-field product
Heyman made sure to give Henry his flowers for his successes at the helm of the Red Sox organization. Four championships in 14 years is nothing to sneeze at, particularly since no other team has won as many as the Sox since the beginning of the millennium.
Then, Heyman went on to highlight Boston's moves this offseason, and explained how most of them didn't move the needle the way the Sox needed them to, even with their "limitless resources and notoriously loyal fans."
https://t.co/SeRAmceOY1. Red Sox owners have won 4 World Series this century but they seem distracted or disinterested now. Few of these 8 big winter moves will bring immediate results so what’s the plan? (In here: what they bid for Yamamoto and where they stand with Monty)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 8, 2024
Looking at 2024, Tyler O'Neill brings quality defense but a rough plate presence, comes with quite the injury history. Lucas Giolito hasn't had a good season in two years, and now Boston will likely pay him to rehab a partially torn UCL for the next year and a half. The Red Sox front office lowballed every high-profile free-agent candidate they tried to go after. Theo Epstein's return to the front office is great for the club, but the move likely didn't happen soon enough to make any sort of difference for 2024.
The most perplexing part of the decision making, to Heyman and to Sox fans, is that the Red Sox aren't far off from being a good team. Heyman mentioned Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Rafael Devers, Trevor Story and Brayan Bello as valuable assets and talented players the team could build around to give way to a competent club. Boston needs one or two more pieces to go from decent to good, and maybe even really good.
But, Heyman said, adding players costs money, and FSG isn't focused on baseball. And he's spoken with unnamed Red Sox staff members who share the same belief.
With any luck, Heyman's platform and status will wake Henry up. Everyone has his number now.