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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