Red Sox CEO says team has ‘under-performed’ in 2024
The Red Sox are .500 on the season going into their series against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night. At 28-28, Boston has surprised people between not going “full throttle” in the offseason and dealing with injuries to key players like Lucas Giolito, Trevor Story, Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida and Garrett Whitlock.
If you ask Sam Kennedy, though, he thinks the Red Sox have “under-performed.” Appearing on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Thursday morning, the CEO said 2024 has been a “tale of two seasons” with the pitching being a strong point and the bats and the defense not being where they should be.
“Really positive in in many ways, and then really negative in others. … I think it’s a talented group, incredibly athletic, young,” Kennedy said. “We’ve seen sort of the glimpse of how we’re going to get back to the postseason with athletic play and young, homegrown guys that have come through our system and performances from a pitching staff that has just been sort of otherworldly.
“On the other hand, our bats have gone quiet at the wrong time, our defense has not been where it needs to be, and of course, we’ve suffered the loss of guys like Trevor and Triston and Tyler O’Neill now going down. So, that’s not an excuse. It’s on us to stay healthy. That’s part of competing,” he continued. “We’re right at the .500 mark here, 56 games or whatever it is into the season. Got 100-plus games to go. So, we need to get hot. We need to continue to pitch the way we have and start getting guys on base and scoring more runs. But I don’t think we’ve over-performed. I think, if anything, we’ve under-performed just given the talent and the competitiveness in that clubhouse.”
Andrew Bailey has really helped transform the pitching staff, but the Red Sox have struggled to hit with runners in scoring position — something that also plagued them last year. Going into Thursday’s game, the Red Sox sit in third place in the American League East and a game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in the standings.
There’s still plenty of baseball left to be played, and the Red Sox will only begin to get healthier with the impending returns of Casas and Tyler O’Neill — who landed on the injured list this week with knee inflammation.
Boston can begin a new win streak after dropping the finale against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday when it begins a new series with the Tigers at Fenway Park on Thursday night.
