Reacting to Sam Kennedy's comments
FORT MYERS, Fla. - The bench always brings something.
It used to be a picnic table, spawning spring training's biggest talking points and controversies, where players addressed offseason controversies and contract issues. Then, once the team moved across town to JetBlue Park, it was the bench. For a minute, the plank of wood sat next to the clubhouse entrance, but was quickly moved to the end of the Fenway South building, in part to get out of the sun while providing a more spacious media landing spot.
It was the spot principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner would offer their two cents on the organization's existence in what would oftentimes be the only 20 minutes of on-the-record conversation allowed by the Red Sox's hierarchy. And within those sessions, there was almost always entertainment, insight, and some sort of chaos.
Pablo Sandoval's body fat percentage. Admitting they messed up the Jon Lester negotiations. And, of course, some sort of defense regarding the path they did or didn't take heading into a season.
That dynamic went out the window after the 2018 season, with the next iteration coming in the form of an inside-the-building press conference in 2020 after the trading of Mookie Betts. After that, however, Henry was done. There was one year he tried to hand-select a few news organizations to ask emailed questions. But that came and went when even those responses served as the kind of talking points the owner was trying to avoid.
That has left Sam Kennedy as the guy on the bench.
Different person. Different voice. Same delicious notable sound bytes.
This time? The wheel of conversation-starters landed on missing out on re-signing Alex Bregman and whether or not the demand for a no-trade clause got in the way of a return.
"No, look, if Alex Bregman wanted to be here, ultimately he’d be here," Kennedy said. "We try not to talk about organizational policies and the finer points of negotiations, because it just doesn't serve you well."
The comment was immediately picked apart, with the tough-to-ignore reality that the Cubs' offer (which did include a no-trade clause) was indisputably better than the Red Sox's, so to lean on any notion that Bregman's choice was born of not wanting to be in Boston seemed misguided. But, so be it. It continued a tradition like no other: Not quite being able to get through that moment on the bench without hitting some sort of narrative-driving bump in the road.
Make no mistake about it: just because there might be some annual eyebrow-raising and eye-rolling doesn't mean the Red Sox should hesitate to give these state-of-the-union addresses. It's important. In a bizarre way, they allow for some much-needed connections to a fan base that seems to be living with another fork-in-the-road existence.
The size of the school vacation crowds watching the season's first batting practices and ground balls at Fenway South is better than most organizations, but a shell of what they used to be. And the juice for this year's team isn't nearly as obvious as years past.
Run prevention isn't nearly as sexy for onlookers as the shock-and-awe that comes with launching a ball off the tin roof over at Field 5.
Still, that doesn't mean this Red Sox team can't secure the most important piece of the entire equation, wins. MLB.com ranked this club third in MLB offseason WAR. And the majority of fans actually believe this version of the Sox is better than what they rolled out 365 days ago.
But it will be a waiting game. With no Pete Alonso or Alex Bregman, and a way-too-crowded outfield, this seems like a much more convoluted calculation. It could work, but it could also present a disappointing home-run-free existence.
This we do know: For better or worse, the bench will always be there. And that is one element of this equation that has almost never disappointed.