The bench interviews in Fort Myers are in full swing.
Remember those? They were always the highly-anticipated get-togethers with the media involving some high-profile players, adding edge to anticipation. And then, to top everything off, the owners took their 20-or-so minutes to offer some sort of noteworthy verbal flag in the ground.
This time around? Two comments from the sessions involving Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and reliever Kenley Jansen served as the highlights:
"I think we can appreciate that things haven’t come together in maybe a way that I had anticipated." - Breslow on the Sox' offseason.
“You never know, right?" - Jansen when asked if the Red Sox are a playoff team.
This is where things have landed. Not shock. Not awe. Just numbness.
There were some words, however, that should have served as a shock to the system. They came from Yankees camp Wednesday.
“We’re hell-bent on being a champion."
That was Yankees manager Aaron Boone. He continued, "We understand very well that last year was not anything anyone in this organization wants or demands or expects."
Hell-bent on being a champion! That's how it's supposed to be, right? That's how Boston fans had been programmed up until recent months. It's the reason why "full throttle" offered so much hope and then so much disappointment.
The Red Sox' defense of this will be that they also are hell-bent on being champions. They are trying with that same goal serving as their "North Star." The problem is that when Boone utters those words he isn't talking about 2026. He is verbalizing the desperation and course correction that is expected in these sort of markets.
Juan Soto. Alex Verdugo. Marcus Stroman. Sincere aggressive pushes to get Josh Hader and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That's why Boone could sit in front of those microphones and say what he said.
The Red Sox interviewees? They were being uncomfortably honest.
Now, understand, words don't mean really anything when it comes to wins and losses. Remember, it's best shape of their lives season. And taking the title as most prolific offseason in mid-February can ultimately be nothing more than an uncomfortable memory. (See the 2023 Padres and Mets.)
But words can hurt. This is a reality Red Sox fans have become all too familiar with too many times since the end of the 2023 season. The latest dagger coming in the form of Boone's message.
This isn't another opportunity to bemoan that the good ol' days are a thing of the past. It will be interesting to see how the evolution of approach when it comes to some things with the Red Sox manifest themselves in actual wins. (Not exactly a bumper-sticker sentence, but it is what it is.)
This is an appreciation for the feeling that comes with legitimate February hope, anticipation and excitement. This week, they got that in Tampa and various other spots throughout Florida and Arizona.
At Fenway South? They are hell-bent on patience and process. It doesn't quite hit the same, does it.
