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John Henry

John Henry Discusses Payroll, Offseason, “False Narrative” Around Red Sox

By Mark Polishuk | February 19, 2023 at 10:33pm CDT

Red Sox principal owner John Henry addressed several topics related to his team in e-mails with The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey and The Boston Sports Journal’s Sean McAdam, and in both Q&A responses, Henry pushed back against criticisms of the club’s offseason.

“There’s been a false narrative that we somehow stopped spending — completely unsupported by the facts — that we no longer sign free agents, that we are uninterested in or incapable of winning despite our track record….I don’t think anyone realizes there are 30 teams in these sports every year that are all doing everything they can to win,” Henry wrote in his response to McAdam.  “In a particular year some clubs are criticized because they aren’t ’going for it’ when they are going every single thing they can short of destroying their futures to win. You always have to keep an eye on the future.  And every team (maybe not the Mets) has a budget.  It’s so easy to fall as we did in 2022 to mediocrity.  We needed to make changes but we haven’t lost our way.”

In regards to Boston’s own budget, Henry told McCaffrey that the Red Sox weren’t going to increase spending into the $300MM range as response to how teams have operated this winter.  The Mets’ whopping $355MM projected payroll leads baseball, and the Yankees and Padres have also opened the checkbook to a large extent this winter, even if both teams are wary of hitting particular luxury-tax penalty tiers.

It has been a busy winter at Fenway Park, with a long list of notable players (i.e. Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill) departing in free agency.  Bloom has been quite active in adding replacements, with such players as Masataka Yoshida, Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Corey Kluber, Adam Duvall, Adalberto Mondesi, and Joely Rodriguez among the notable names brought aboard in signings or trades.  In addition, the Red Sox also locked up a cornerstone piece in signing Rafael Devers to a massive extension that will keep the slugger in Beantown through the 2033 season.

Naturally, Henry pointed to the Devers deal as proof that the Red Sox were still open to extending their in-house stars, as well as making long-term commitments to players into their late 30’s.  “Clubs, fans, media can all wish players had fewer options and that clubs had unlimited budgets, but players — including those you most want to extend — are often going end up going to free agency,” Henry wrote to McAdam.  “Clubs need depth.  Every MLB club faces these issues and it isn’t something we enjoy.  I hated losing Xander as much as anyone on the planet, but players going to free agency isn’t a new phenomenon.  We are faced with difficult choices each offseason.”

With an estimated payroll of just under $193MM, the Red Sox are hardly pinching pennies, and yet that total represents a significant drop from their 2022 year-end payroll of around $221MM.  Boston’s luxury tax number is now down to roughly $217.8MM, under the $233MM threshold and also a reduction after the Red Sox just barely surpassed the tax line in 2022.  The front office’s decision to stay over the tax line last season drew plenty of criticism, as the Red Sox didn’t make the playoffs, and their status as Competitive Balance Tax payors cost them in terms of draft compensation for Bogaerts and Eovaldi.  Because the duo rejected qualifying offers, the Red Sox would’ve received compensatory picks sitting 61st and 62nd overall in the 2023 draft order.  Instead, those picks are 119th and 120th overall.

Henry also used the “false narrative” terminology in his response to McCaffrey, saying that Bogaerts’ decision to sign with the Padres was one of “the biggest factors” in some of the discontent expressed by Red Sox Nation.  In response to the widely-publicized incident of Henry, president Sam Kennedy, and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom being booed during the team’s Winter Weekend fan event, Henry seemed to imply that media negativity exaggerated the situation, rhetorically asking “did anyone report the standing ovation at the end?”

With all this in mind, Henry didn’t address or seemingly didn’t recognize the chief criticism most Boston fans have about the team’s offseason — not a lack of spending per se, but rather the nature of that spending.  Rather than pursue another major name to replace Bogaerts, the Red Sox instead spread their money around to multiple veteran players on short-term contracts.  The biggest deal to a new player went to Yoshida (an unknown quantity against MLB competition), and the size of Yoshida’s contract also drew surprised responses from multiple rival executives.

Time will soon tell if Bloom’s strategy has paid off, and obviously a lot of fan criticism will diminish if the Sox get back into contention in 2023.  Henry wrote in both e-mails that “no one was happy with” with the team’s 78-84 record last year left, including ownership.

Going into the new season, Henry feels “we are in much better shape than we were after 2021,” when the Red Sox advanced to the ALCS.  That year marked the one winning season of Bloom’s three-year tenure as chief baseball officer, but when asked by McAdam about Bloom’s job performance, Henry noted that “baseball operations is more than one person….So a better question is: how is the organization doing?”

“As I said, we haven’t gotten the kind of results you would have expected for the amount of resources deployed over the last four years with the exception of 2021.  We’ve been building depth, but we saw little depth last year in the major leagues.  You should see some depth this year and improvement.  We have had setbacks with injuries already this season, but we expect to be competitive.  We are at a different stage than the Yankees are, than Toronto this season….It will be interesting.”

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Boston Red Sox Chaim Bloom John Henry

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Red Sox Notes: Bogaerts, Latest Investment News, Closer Competition

By TC Zencka | March 1, 2021 at 10:53am CDT

Xander Bogaerts will take a couple games off to rest a sore shoulder, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). The Red Sox do not believe he should have any problem being ready for opening day. Bogaerts might be the most important position player on the roster, as Boston doesn’t have a ready-made everyday replacement for him at short. Christian Arroyo started one game there last season, but he hasn’t regularly played the position since 2017. Same basic story for Marwin Gonzalez, who is best served filling in elsewhere around he diamond. Jeter Downs can handle short, but Boston isn’t likely to begin his ML career as an injury replacement. Jonathan Araúz isn’t a sure thing to make the roster, but he could be the guy he if makes the team. Kiké Hernandez might be the best option on the roster. He has played a little shortstop every season going back to 2014, though he generally sat behind Chris Taylor on the depth chart as the primary backup. Now, more from Boston…

  • The Fenway Sports Group is reviewing the details of a private investment offer by RedBird Capital that would raise their valuation to roughly $7.35 billion, writes Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe. FSG would remain a private company led by the current leadership group of John Henry, Tom Werner, and Michael Gordon. Managing Partner and CEO of RedBird Capital Gerry Cardinale – along with Billy Beane of the A’s – was a primary driver behind the recent RedBall SPAC (special interest acquisition group), which would have taken the company public. In this case, the roughly $750MM investment certainly helps in the big picture sense, but the Red Sox themselves aren’t likely to see much of an impact. The Fenway Sports Group has a number of properties, and this opportunity has further-reaching implications beyond, say, the Red Sox payroll. By taking the private investment route, Cardinale and RedBird would become a significant stakeholder, while FSG would get a cash influx to further their broader growth plans. Both FSG and RedBird have noted interest in expanding their holdings within the sports entertainment sector.
  • Expect Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock to open the season in the bullpen. The Red Sox like what they’ve seen so far, and if he doesn’t make the team, they’ll have to return him to the Yankees. The additions of versatile bench options on the offensive end should allow the Red Sox to carry an extra pitcher for much of this season, helping Whitlock’s chances of staying in Boston. In other bullpen news, Matt Barnes and Adam Ottavino are competing for the closer role, though Ryan Brasier could have a hand in closing games as well, writes the Athletic’s Chad Jennings. Hirokazu Sawamura will not pitch in that spot, despite having some experience in the role.
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Boston Red Sox Notes Adam Ottavino Hirokazu Sawamura John Henry Matt Barnes Ryan Brasier Tom Werner Xander Bogaerts

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Owner John Henry: Red Sox Are “Focused On Competitiveness…Over And Above Resetting” Luxury Tax Payment

By Mark Polishuk | January 12, 2020 at 9:09am CDT

Payroll concerns have been the prominent storyline of the Red Sox offseason, especially given the team’s relative lack of major moves.  There has been much more attention paid to the club’s apparent attempts to trade such high-salaried players as David Price, Nathan Eovaldi, Jackie Bradley Jr., or perhaps even Mookie Betts in order to avoid surpassing the Competitive Balance Tax threshold for the third consecutive season, based on comments made by Red Sox principal owner John Henry last September.

During a season wrap-up press conference, Henry said “This year we need to be under the CBT.  That is something we’ve known for more than a year now.”  This statement was already partially walked back by team CEO Sam Kennedy a few days later, as Kennedy said that avoiding a luxury tax penalty was “goal but not a mandate” for the coming season.

Henry further discussed the team’s financial direction in a recent e-mail exchange with Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe.  This past week, Shaughnessy contacted top executives with the Red Sox and the umbrella Fenway Sports Group ownership company asking “I am working on a column in which I will suggest that there was no plan to disclose the mandate to get under the $208MM luxury tax threshold before you went into the September 27 press conference.  It felt like John just came out with it spontaneously.  And now that is the charge for [newly-hired chief baseball officer] Chaim Bloom. Is this accurate?“

In response to the question, Henry sent this message…

“You might actually be right for once in that I don’t plan what I’m going to say before answering media questions in a live media event. But this focus on CBT resides with the media far more than it does within the Sox.  I think every team probably wants to reset at least once every three years — that’s sort of been the history — but just this week…I reminded baseball ops that we are focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years over and above resetting to which they said, ’That’s exactly how we’ve been approaching it.’ ”

“You seem to think Chaim was brought in to reduce payroll.  That has simply not been the way FSG operates here or across the pond.  We try to act responsibly so as to be consistently competitive.  Your main point seems to be that I accidentally disclosed a secret plan but unlike you, I am honest about Sox issues.  The question was asked and I answered it.”

Whereas Henry’s September comment about the “need to be under the CBT” seemed rather direct, this latest statement implies that Henry was only speaking in broader terms about his team’s (or any team’s) long-term payroll goals.  Obviously, every club would prefer to avoid the luxury tax whenever possible, and especially avoid three straight years of CBT overages to avoid the maximum “three-timer” penalty of a 50% tax rate on any overages.

According to Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, the Red Sox have a luxury tax number of just under $237.89MM for their 2020 payroll, putting them in line for a third straight year of overages.  The Sox already surpassed the CBT threshold in both 2018 and 2019, costing them roughly (by the estimate of Cot’s Baseball Contracts) $25.37MM in tax payments.  Also, for spending more than the maximum $40MM over the threshold in 2018, Boston’s top pick in the 2019 draft was dropped back ten slots in the draft order.

(As always, it should be noted that the CBT isn’t at all a hard salary cap, so a “need” to avoid the tax is ultimately more of an ownership preference for both the Red Sox and any other team in baseball.  To use Boston’s overages from the last two years as an example, $25.37MM over a two-year span isn’t exactly a major expenditure for any franchise, especially a big-revenue club like the Red Sox.)

To this point, it’s been a pretty quiet offseason for Bloom and his front office.  While the club hasn’t shed any of its heftiest contracts, the Sox also haven’t made any big expenditures, with Martin Perez and Jose Peraza representing Boston’s most notable additions.  Given that there has been virtually no buzz connecting the Red Sox to any major free agents or trade targets, it’s probably safe to assume that the team’s payroll won’t be going up.  While Bloom may not be under any overt directive to cut salaries, the question may be just how a fine line Bloom has to walk in trying to keep the team competitive in 2020 while not incurring an even larger luxury tax bill.

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Boston Red Sox John Henry

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BoSox Owner John Henry: “We’re Not Going To Be Looking To Add A Lot Of Payroll” This Season

By Mark Polishuk | June 30, 2019 at 11:00pm CDT

“If we play up to our capabilities we will easily make the playoffs. That’s how I see it,” Red Sox principal owner John Henry told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford in London this weekend before Boston’s two-game series with the Yankees.  The Sox dropped both of those games to fall 11 games behind New York in the AL East standings, and two games out of an AL wild card slot.

At just 44-40 on the season, the Sox are far behind the pace set by their 2018 World Series team, which won 108 games in the regular season and then went 11-3 in the playoffs to capture the franchise’s fourth Commissioner’s Trophy since 2004.  The Red Sox haven’t won back-to-back titles, however, and Henry noted that following up a championship run has been a challenge.

While this year’s Red Sox seem decidedly better than the 2014 team that finished in the AL East basement, Henry noted that in both 2014 and 2019, the club didn’t make many roster alternations over the winter.

“My take is that maybe it isn’t the best thing in the world to bring back the same team in its entirety every time,” Henry said.  “You don’t want to break a team down.  But maybe a few changes wouldn’t hurt.  But the feeling is always different after you win, apparently.”

On paper, there wasn’t really too much for the Sox to address over their quiet offseason, though their lack of bullpen depth was seen as a problem in March and has blossomed into a full-blown concern as we enter July.  While Boston’s bullpen and starting pitchers still rank in the top half of the league in most statistical categories (Sox relievers lead the league in K/9), both have been prone to breakdowns at inopportune times.  The rotation has been largely carried by David Price and Chris Sale, the latter of whom has looked like his traditionally dominant self after a subpar April.  But Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez haven’t pitched well, while the fifth starter’s spot has been a revolving door of shaky performances since Nathan Eovaldi has spent much of the year on the injured list.

A possible answer to these problems, of course, is a big addition or two at the trade deadline, though the Red Sox won’t have much room to maneuver if they are to stay under the $246MM threshold for the maximum luxury tax penalty.  The Sox passed this threshold last season, costing the team a little under $12MM in tax payments and a 10-spot drop for their first selection in the 2019 draft.

Between Porcello, Rodriguez, Eovaldi, the injured Dustin Pedroia, underperforming veterans Steve Pearce and Eduardo Nunez, and the $30MM+ in dead money still on the books for Rusney Castillo and Pablo Sandoval, the Sox have roughly $100MM committed to players who have combined for only +0.6 fWAR in 2019.

It should be noted that as per the calculations from Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, the Sox are again in position to surpass the $246MM threshold, with an estimated luxury tax number of roughly $251.4MM.  If the team is indeed over the line with little hope of getting under the $246MM, one could argue that the Red Sox might as well go ahead and spend more in an all-out push for another World Series.  MLBTR’s Steve Adams outlined Boston’s financial restraints back in February, and while the Red Sox would face an even stiffer penalty for passing the $246MM limit in consecutive years, a big-market team like Boston is more suited to handling such extra expenses.

This doesn’t appear likely, however, as Henry doesn’t see spending (or a perceived lack of spending) as the problem.

“It’s not a luxury tax issue, it’s a question of how much money do we want to lose,” Henry said.  “We’re already over budget and we were substantially over our budget last year and this year. We’re not going to be looking to add a lot of payroll. And it’s hard to imagine fielding a better team. If we play up to our capabilities we’ll be fine. That’s the question: Will we? We’re halfway through and we haven’t….It’s a worthy team because we invested. Two years in a row we have the highest payroll. It’s not a matter of investment, it’s a matter of playing well.“

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Boston Red Sox John Henry

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