Sam Kennedy’s offseason comments did little to quiet the bigger question hanging over the Red Sox: is this front office building a contender, or just keeping Fenway full?
At Boston’s end-of-season press conference on October 5, the message from team leadership was familiar enough. There was disappointment that the playoff run ended when it did, and there was the usual promise that the work to improve the roster for next year will get done. Kennedy also singled out the crowd, saying, “it was an amazing atmosphere night in and night out” at Fenway Park this season.
That line stands out because of everything that came before it. The Red Sox opened the year with boos, paper bag hats and “sell the team” chants, only for Fenway to settle back into its usual sold-out rhythm once the club steadied itself. That, more than anything, appears to be what ownership is counting on.
The business model is hard to miss. Boston has its own TV network in NESN, partially owned by John Henry, and wins help drive subscriptions and viewership.
Fenway Park is also one of the smallest ballparks in MLB, which means a good Red Sox team creates more pressure on tickets and prices. The team does not need to be a superteam to cash in.
That reality has shaped the roster for years. Since the last World Series title in 2018, the Red Sox have trimmed spending and moved on from star names, including Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers and Chris Sale. They have also let impending free agents walk, with Xander Bogaerts, Kyle Schwarber and Alex Bregman among the names cited.
Boston has tried to stay in the mix just enough to keep fans engaged, and there have been stretches where the club has been good enough to matter without being good enough to finish the job in October. After missing the playoffs in five of six seasons from 2019-24, the front office has been more active in free agency and on the trade market, but not in a way that has changed the postseason result.
The Bregman situation is the clearest example. Boston traded Devers to make room for him, then let Bregman leave even though the team knew he had a better offer elsewhere and chose not to go higher. The same story played out with Schwarber and Pete Alonso, two bats that would have brought the kind of consistent home run production this lineup has lacked.
That power shortage was the glaring flaw in 2025, and it still wasn’t solved heading into 2026. The club did add Willson Contreras, Ranger Suarez and other pieces for the 2025-26 offseason, but those moves do not carry the same championship pedigree as Bregman, or the steady offensive force that Bregman, Alonso and Schwarber can provide.
So the bigger issue remains unchanged. Fenway will sell out, the atmosphere will be strong, and Boston will always have a baseball audience.
But if the front office is satisfied with that alone, the 2026 roster was never built with the Dodgers and Yankees of the world in mind. The question now is whether the Red Sox finally address the home run problem in the 2026-27 offseason, or keep following the same script.
In Other News...
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The bigger issue is what the organization believes it can reasonably count on going forward. Injuries have stacked up, productivity remains uncertain, and the Red Sox are facing the kind of roster squeeze that forces uncomfortable calls on players who still carry name value but no longer offer much certainty. All signs point toward Boston non-tendering Casas for 2027, a move that would close a frustrating chapter for a player whose future once looked far more secure. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Judge's Frustration Gives Red Sox Fans One More Reason To Smile
The Yankees season ended in familiar October disappointment, and Aaron Judge did not try to sugarcoat it after Tampa Bay completed the sweep in the American League Division Series. The Yankees captain said the loss only sharpened the need to confront the teams weaknesses, a blunt assessment from the face of the franchise after another postseason exit that left New York searching for answers.
For Red Sox fans, Judges frustration is the latest reminder that the divisions biggest rival is feeling the pressure to fix what went wrong. He also made clear that he signed back on in New York with a championship standard in mind, which only adds more weight to the winter ahead as the Yankees decide how aggressively they want to reshape the roster and restore their status as annual contenders. [Read more 🡒]
Alex Cora To The Yankees Would Haunt Red Sox All Season
Boston has already moved on to Chad Tracy as its full-time manager after he handled the role on an interim basis, but the broader managerial market still has a familiar name lingering in the background. Alex Cora, the former Red Sox skipper, remains a free agent, and there is at least some outside chatter around where he might land next after stepping away from the dugout for the time being.
The most uncomfortable part for Red Sox fans is not the present, but the possibility that the next chapter could eventually come with a bitter twist. There is speculation the Yankees could be a possible suitor if Cora ever decides to return, though that remains unlikely right now, and for Boston the thought alone is the kind of storyline that can hang around all season and beyond. [Read more 🡒]