FORT MYERS, Fla. – “Remember who we are.”
Addressing your entire 2024 Red Sox for the primary time on Monday, Alex Cora touched on many subjects: objectives, conflicts, success, failure, comparisons, id.
If his recap for the media was any indication, the speech was filled with messages for his gamers, in addition to a number of that sounded extra becoming for possession; principal proprietor John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, and CEO Sam Kennedy have been in attendance for the annual spring coaching kickoff.
“You’re always looking for a North Star, whatever,” the supervisor mentioned. “Sometimes, doing that, you forget who you are. Remember who we are. Let’s not forget that. I don’t care what people think, two last-place finishes, all that. We’re really good at what we do, and we gotta get back to that.”
(By the way in which, Sam Kennedy proclaimed that championships have been nonetheless their “North Star” on the finish of final season.)
“Just gotta find your identity, that’s the most important thing,” declared the Sox skipper. “Whatever we have gone through the last two years, (we’re) still the Boston Red Sox.”
Technically, sure, in fact, they’re nonetheless the Boston Red Sox. Same group title, identical ballpark, identical metropolis, among the identical gamers. Yet the primary and second halves of the above directive are considerably contradictory. If they have been “still” the Sox, they wouldn’t precisely have to be on a quest to find their id, proper?
To say that any group is “still” itself is one thing of an not possible concept. Are these nonetheless Babe Ruth’s Red Sox? Ted Williams’? David Ortiz’s? Are they the Red Sox who didn’t win a World Series for 86 years? The Red Sox who gained 4 World Series in 15 years? The Red Sox who traded Mookie Betts? The Red Sox who’ve completed final in three of the previous 4 seasons?
They’re all of these issues mixed. They’re additionally none of them anymore. That’s why id will be so difficult and troublesome for a sports activities group to outline, particularly one getting into its 124th season. Each yr could also be a clear slate, however the baggage is heavy and so they haven’t any alternative however to hold it. There are issues they’ll by no means get again, and issues forward which are past their management. Change is the one fixed.
So, the Red Sox can speak about turning the web page all they need (and so they do.) But doing so is one other animal, and doesn’t change what’s already been written. Especially when one’s fan base has a protracted and encyclopedic reminiscence.
Almost everybody remembers who the Red Sox are purported to be. Who they have been for a lot of this century. They have been the massive spenders, swinging erratically from final to first and again once more like Tarzan on the vine, however nearly all the time in win-now mode. They have been the “Cowboy up!” crew, The Idiots, the Dirt Dogs, the ‘Chicken and Beer’ disasters, the “Fear the Beard” and “Boston Strong” heroes, and the dominating “Damage Done” squad.” They have been lovable, infuriating, heroic, unacceptable, a dream come true, and a nightmare. Often, all inside a single season. Sometimes, throughout the span of 9 innings.
If anybody’s forgotten who the Red Sox are and who they’re purported to be, it’s the individuals who made them this juggernaut within the first place: their house owners. Once upon a time, they spent and spent and spent, first to save lots of Fenway Park from damage and gaudy substitute and to reverse the curse, then to ensure they weren’t an October one-hit surprise, and so forth and so forth. In brief, they have been a dream come true for a fan base that had spent almost 9 a long time being proven that their goals would by no means come true.
But over the past half-decade, they’ve dismantled the very dynasty they’d constructed. Ownership is never obtainable and even current, a stark distinction to the nice ol’ days.
“Win a World Series? That’s not my choice, it’s my role, it’s my obligation,” Henry informed the Boston Globe in 2004. “I certainly identify with the fans, because I’ve been one my entire life.”
On Monday, when requested if he had a few minutes to subject questions from the media, one thing he hasn’t achieved for the reason that Betts commerce 4 years in the past this month, he chuckled, mentioned no, and walked away.
As the Red Sox rebuild for what they declare might be constant rivalry sometime, they’ve plummeted from the highest of the spending pyramid, and carried out enterprise in methods many across the trade don’t perceive. Kennedy confirmed on Monday that possession set a spending restrict for the offseason. At Winter Weekend, he mentioned that this yr’s payroll would in all probability be decrease than the final.
Spending isn’t any assure of success. But not spending, particularly when there’s the power to take action and a official likelihood of enchancment, hasn’t yielded success, both. Nor are the optics of charging premium costs for a subpar product flattering.
“We get criticized, like every other organization,” Cora mentioned. “Remember who you are. It doesn’t have to do with free agents, or player development, or if you’re No. 1 in Baseball America. If you look at the body of work the last 20 years, we’ve been very successful. I don’t care what people think, there’s four rings to show it.”
Cora can communicate with such confidence as a result of he gained rings as a participant and as their supervisor. The Red Sox earned the suitable to brag via laborious work, grit, dedication, blood, sweat, tears, and some huge cash spent. The Red Sox are the winningest group of the millennium, and their 9 championships general make them tied for the third-winningest franchise in MLB historical past.
Does that imply they’ve achieved sufficient? Most followers across the league would say sure, let others have their flip. Which is truthful, particularly for the parents in Cleveland, who haven’t gained a World Series since 1948. There are groups which have by no means gained.
But the expectations are totally different in Boston than, say, Tampa Bay and Oakland. They’re totally different as a result of this possession made them so. No extra going all the way in which to Game 7 simply to have Enos Slaughter/Bill Buckner/Aaron Boone sprint these hopes as soon as once more.
“Not everyone can be the Dodgers that (have) been in the playoffs I don’t know how many years in a row,” Cora mentioned. “That’s cool, that’s great, but when you’re in the dance, you gotta win it, and we’ve been in the dance a few times and we won it.”
Yes, they’ve. And is it truthful to offer the locals a style of glory after which resolve that’s sufficient for them to reside on? Are followers grasping – maybe – or are they merely holding this group to the very customary they have been taught to anticipate from them? Because Red Sox followers actually had no expectations by Year 86 of wandering within the desert.
“I think sometimes, trying to emulate other organizations, you deviate from who you are,” added Cora. “Hopefully, we can get back to who we are, and other organizations are like, we want to be like them.”
All informed, it appeared like a stirring oration, the spontaneous sort that might rally troops to do what nobody thinks they’ll. “It was good,” Chris Martin informed the Herald. “We needed that.”
Cora mentioned that wasn’t how he supposed it, although. “Been thinking about this for a while.”
That’s to be anticipated, as he enters the ultimate yr of his contract to handle the group. If he’s prepared to depart, or he expects that he gained’t be requested to return, why not inform the Red Sox to cease making an attempt to be Tampa Bay North?
Perhaps it should rally the troops, all the identical. There’s plenty of starvation, competitors, and shoulders with chips in them on this Red Sox clubhouse. You by no means know.
This iteration of the Red Sox will carve out their very own id.
It’s possession who owe it to followers to rediscover theirs.
Source: www.bostonherald.com