Red Sox president Sam Kennedy on the team’s roster: ‘I would anticipate there’s still work to be done’
The Red Sox will have their first official workout for pitchers and catchers down in Fort Myers on Valentine’s Day. With nine days to go, Red Sox team president and CEO Sam Kennedy believes the club will add players to the 2024 roster.
While attending the yearly “Truck Day” event outside Fenway Park, Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow met with fans and reporters on Van Ness St., telling the crowd the Red Sox roster is an unfinished product.
“The offseason continues,” Kennedy said. “There’s still a lot of unsigned players and conversations going on. I would anticipate there’s still work to be done.”
The Red Sox haven’t been overly active adding to the Major League roster, signing Lucas Giolito and Cooper Criswell to big league deals and trading for Vaughn Grissom and Tyler O’Neill. The team still lacks the additional pitching depth that Breslow has repeatedly said he would add this winter.
At Red Sox Winter Weekend in January, Kennedy told reporters he expects the team’s 2024 payroll number to be lower than last season. The team is roughly sitting at $200 million, with about $24 million to spend to match 2023 payroll.
Based off the way the Red Sox have operated this winter, it seems unlikely they’ll hover at the top of the free agent market for any of the premium players that remain unsigned. Left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery remain available and would instantly impact the starting rotation, Boston still remains long shots to land either southpaw.
The club also needs a right-handed bat to replace Justin Turner who left in free agency for the Blue Jays. Boston has been connected to free agent outfielder Jorge Soler and a potential reunion with Adam Duvall.
Boston remains interested in adding pitching to the roster, but when asked, Kennedy defaulted the question from reporters to Breslow.
“Probably a better question for Brez,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want to predict what sort of shape or form any additions or changes could take. But we’re still going.”
The Red Sox hosted Truck Day just days after announcing the return of Theo Epstein, who is now a part owner of Fenway Sports Group and a senior advisor. Kennedy said he believes the organization is beginning to get back to the old way of operating despite the lackluster offseason.
“We’re continuing to build this thing back up to hopefully a championship organization,” Kennedy said. “Long way to go. Talk is irrelevant, especially difficult for fans to hear when you’re coming off two disappointing seasons. We’re confident we’re doing the right things internally and we need to keep doing those things.”
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Well, get going!!