Curtis: "If the team is under 500 at the deadline, will you add?" Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy joins!

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Curtis: "If the team is under 500 at the deadline, will you add?" Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy joins! Was the Devers deal "emotional" or "reactionary"? Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy joins! How different are the vibes now from ST?

Transcript

00:00of and joining us now it is the president of the boston red sox sam kennedy hey sam good morning

00:05good morning guys happy fourth yeah same to you are you a lake or an ocean person we're we're on

00:12lake winnipesaukee this morning yeah i was gonna say the uh expense controls at uh odyssey are out

00:19of control huh guys a little vacation no we're at Fenway Park we're working all right well um i know

00:26you talked a little bit last night on nesson uh about this team post uh devers trade and the and

00:34the belief that you have in them and so i wanted to um because you know craig breslow has been on

00:40last couple weeks talking about deadline coming up and uh talking about the need to improve the team

00:45so when you say you know you feel good about this team you don't mean you feel you don't mean you're

00:51you don't need to do anything or you're looking at opportunities to do things i'm assuming oh yeah

00:56no well well first of all we've been really disappointed in our performance this year i

01:03mean let's let's just be straight about that we've we're not where we should be um it's been

01:09frustrating and so yeah if there's opportunities to improve this team we have to aggressively pursue

01:15that that's the mindset right now um you know so we'll we'll see we've got i think 20 plus games

01:22until the trading deadline um and the mindset is one of we want to improve and we want to get back

01:28to the postseason and be the 2025 team that we thought we were building in the offseason but

01:34we haven't done it so you know we've got to start playing better baseball on a more consistent basis

01:40it's been really frustrating the devers trade has been talked about a lot um i just want to ask you

01:48you said last night that that was a baseball move and i think we you know we've gone back and forth with

01:54uh fans who are calling or we're talking to them about it um when you say baseball move is how do you

02:02how do you explain that yeah i mean it's pretty simple it's a baseball move because the reasons the

02:09trade were made were um cultural uh and organizational and to ultimately make the organization

02:19what we stand for um it was not in the moment in time a move where you remove that bat from the

02:26lineup and you think that specific move is going to make you better that that doesn't that doesn't

02:32add up but what adds up is we have to make sometimes very difficult decisions like this move

02:39um to do what's right for the baseball team the organization overall really difficult but it was

02:48about baseball it was about culture it was about fit and it was what was doing right for the whole

02:55clubhouse not one individual person that said we don't take it lightly that was a really difficult

03:01move um and we didn't take it lightly but that's what it was about it was not about saving money it

03:08was not about roster payroll flexibility it was about doing the right thing for the entire organization

03:16for the near term and for the long term sam i think a lot of people when we have breslow and we

03:24hear about him talking about that you guys believe this is a team that can make the playoffs and really

03:29make some noise this year as far as getting into the postseason can our expectations be that

03:36that you guys have got to be big players come the trade deadline to improve a team that you guys feel

03:43like if you can get into the postseason you can make some noise absolutely we have the ability to do that

03:51um in terms of you know blessing from ownership and the um the sort of fulfilling our our goal

03:59becoming a postseason team that said we have to start playing better baseball on a more consistent basis

04:06i mean when we're playing sloppy defensively when we're not running the base as well when the bullpen

04:13struggling you know it's really hard to keep up in the american league east so we we've got to play better

04:19baseball and prove to ourselves over these next seven series that this is a team that can do what

04:25we think we can do i mean we were very aggressive this offseason we had uh what we thought was a

04:31really great offseason in terms of the additions and the extensions with garrett cochet and alice

04:36fregman and aroldis chapman um you know we we just for for a lot of reasons we've been a 500 or below 500

04:45that's not that's not what we're looking for here so we need to answer your question specifically yes

04:51we do have the ability to go out and improve the team but we also have to play better baseball to

04:57put ourselves in a position where postseason is realistic and we got to get going um you you brought

05:03up uh base running uh you know you look at the eighth inning last night and in that late game um

05:10those are those are fundamentals so from from your perspective like you expect major league baseball

05:16players not to be making those mistakes i think um from your perspective and craig breslow alluded a

05:22little bit to this when he was on last week it does this team need to focus more on simple

05:28fundamentals of baseball whether it's in spring training or or now definitely i mean it's been a

05:36systemic thing for a long time and we that's on us that's on everybody in the organization but yeah

05:43it's not acceptable to be out out there at the major league level um and making fundamental mistakes

05:49if you do that in the big leagues if you give away outs you're going to be in big trouble so yes we need

05:55to improve full stop yeah i thought i was watching myself in little league last night sam um the

06:00don't sell yourself short yeah i was the best right fielder in dover um so sam

06:06it seems to me and i don't i'm not debating analytics or not that's not what my goal is

06:10the organization is driven in some part some say large some say not too large by analytics

06:17and yet it feels to me that the devers trade was emotional that that was a reaction to a player's

06:27the personal relationship with the player impacting the relationship with the team dating back to

06:32the owner's trip with you and um craig and kansas city is that a fair depiction of the trade

06:38well emotion is a huge part of our sport and yeah we we feel um a passion for winning and a passion for

06:48this organization we wouldn't be in professional sports if there wasn't a ton of emotion associated

06:53with it so um that's fair uh we are very very very passionate about what we're doing over here

07:00um so that's definitely a part of it and look analytics are an important tool they really are

07:09data and analysis and decision making and baseball operations and business operations are really

07:14important but that's just one element a person's heart a person's character their makeup

07:20um their desire to be in boston desire to be a leader desire to put the team first all those

07:28elements are hugely important uh as you construct a roster and and so you have to factor in both

07:36analytics uh and the the non-analytical side of things to to put a great team on the field um and

07:44that's what we try to do uh each and every year sam i appreciate you being honest when saying that you

07:50want to build a team that you thought you were building in the off season but what in your mind

07:54changed from the feelings at spring spring training to where we stand today how how different that and

07:59i'm going to use the word because we use it a lot during spring training how different the vibes are

08:04now from back in february march i mean courtney 43 and 45 would would be what i would point to i mean

08:13we're not we're not playing at a level that we had thought and anticipated and there's a lot of

08:20reasons um that have contributed to that and no one is more frustrated than the players in that clubhouse

08:27um and our and our on field staff uh but all of us feel it our fan base feels it we feel it um we just

08:34we've just underperformed that said things can change very quickly uh we're six games back we're not

08:42focused on anything other than the division getting ourselves back in a position to be playing

08:47meaningful games in september to position us to get into october things can change fast alex cora was

08:56joking last night with jason veritek pre-game about the date we're going to the white house next year

09:01so you know we there is there is no um lack of confidence in that clubhouse i can tell you and

09:08that's why i love this group um we feel very very confident but at the same time i think it's fair

09:15for all of us to be frustrated by where we are but when you look at it is it is it a coaching situation

09:22did you guys not get the talent you thought you were getting or are players just not playing up to

09:26their full potential because i completely agree things can turn around but yeah it's it's it's on all

09:32of us i mean look at the end of the day it's on it's on all of us i you know we're a team and um

09:39we have to be better in every area every aspect of the game especially as we discussed the fundamentals

09:46i mean you cannot be giving away outs and expect uh to win baseball games not at the major league level

09:52it just doesn't it just doesn't work so um we got to be better all all around and i i think and feel

10:00that we can but you know hope and and optimism only takes you so far we got to go out and start

10:07start delivering if the team's under 500 at the deadline will you add it's just hard to say chris

10:15at this point you really i don't want to uh pick a lane and and then have you you know play a sound

10:21clip in my face for the next six months so i don't i don't really have any desire yeah no never

10:26never wasn't chris wasn't chris supposed to be on vacation or something today

10:35i'm going far away 6 000 miles sam i'll be in hawaii so he took the over on 90 wins so

10:40i had you in the world series sam god

10:46good good well look so alex cora does as well right now so um listen we we you know we do have

10:53a big july in front of us every single game matters we've got you know we start tomorrow

11:01uh in washington as you said 11 in the morning we won this series against cincinnati last night

11:07was so frustrating though because we could have we could have swept the series but let's let's go out

11:11and win each of these series and we're going to be in a great spot but we we got it we got to get going

11:18so a couple weeks from now and i'm asking this because you you hear what what uh what what what

11:25is said uh a deal is in front of you guys two weeks from now and it requires spending money uh and

11:33whatever you know whatever prospects whatever but but it requires a commitment cash wise from the ball

11:41club john henry is on board and you and everybody else is on board with that with spending that money

11:47absolutely if it's a fit that helps us get to where we want to go absolutely um we we have the

11:55same mindset right now that we had in november december january february march that led us to

12:02what we felt was a very productive and aggressive off season um the that that's so full stop simple

12:11answer but there is a second part of that answer that we have to be realistic i mean if if

12:17we don't go out and do the right things we're you know work and win baseball games over the next

12:21couple weeks we're not going to be in a great position so we need to start playing better

12:26baseball get back to 500 and winning series put ourselves in a position to add to this club at the

12:34deadline and go take a run at it um but it's impossible to guarantee anything here on july 3rd because

12:41we just we just we have to go out we got to play better sam kennedy and thank you for taking the

12:47time we'll talk to you again soon have a great 4th of july and happy 4th to you and your families

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