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Sam Kennedy says ‘hurtful’ narrative on Red Sox can be disproven if you ‘do the math’ on payroll
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- Sam Kennedy says ‘hurtful’ narrative on Red Sox can be disproven if you ‘do the math’ on payroll
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Minutes after attending his 25th annual all-hands meeting on the first day of full squad workouts in spring training, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy identified the one public narrative about the club’s ownership group that bothers him.
“There’s only one that, for me, is hurtful, and that’s that we might not care or have the passion for winning,” Kennedy said Sunday. “That one, I just know it to be untrue. That one gets frustrating.
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“There’s one way to address that, however: Win.”
Kennedy, along with principal owner John Henry, team chairman Tom Werner and other key executives, was at Fenway South on Sunday as the Red Sox got their entire group of players, coaches and front office types together at JetBlue Park. With the backdrop of an emotional meeting in which the team played videos of messages from family members , there was a feeling of hope for the 2026 Red Sox, who are looking to take another step forward after an encouraging 2025 that saw breakouts from young players like Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet and a return to the postseason for the first time in four years. Kennedy said he believed that the Sox, after adding Ranger Suárez , Willson Contreras , Sonny Gray , Caleb Durbin , Johan Oviedo , Isiah Kiner-Falefa and others in a chaotic offseason, did not have a ceiling.
In order to keep pushing forward, Kennedy said, the Red Sox wanted to be aggressive this winter and flex some financial might. Public projections suggest that the Red Sox currently have about $267 million in payroll commitments (against the competitive balance tax threshold) though there is still a chance that number comes down should the club trade a well-compensated player like Masataka Yoshida , Patrick Sandoval or Jarren Duran . In any case, the club will have seen its overall CBT number rise significantly from its 2025 total (about $249 million). The jump continues a year-over-year trend of increased spending from the Sox after a jump from $226 million (2024) to $249 million. (The CBT number went down between 2022 and 2023 and famously stayed flat between 2023 and 2024, which was infamously promised to be a “full-throttle” offseason).
Boston ’s cash commitments in 2026 are projected to be lower than the club’s CBT number because many players, including Suárez, Anthony, Brayan Bello , Ceddanne Rafaela and Kristian Campbell , have backloaded contracts that have higher CBT hits than cash payouts this season. That is somewhat offset in terms of total cash outlay by the fact that the Red Sox, after going over the first CBT threshold in 2025, would have to pay stiffer tax penalties by going over.
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In any case, Kennedy views the increased payroll numbers as a sign of Fenway Sports Group’s dedication to winning.
“You can go do the math and know where we are,” Kennedy said. “I think it just shows that John and Linda and Tom and Mike Gordon in ownership are continuing to put the resources necessary into the Boston Red Sox to be successful. Now, we’ve got to go out and do it.”
The Red Sox, who as a private company do not have to disclose their financials, are believed to have had a quite successful 2025 based on profits, according to an industry source, with attendance numbers and TV ratings having risen year-over-year. Kennedy said he believes it’s fair for fans to equate spending to the organization’s “care factor” on a year-to-year basis.
“Investing dollars is one major piece of showing a willingness to be competitive and to be all-in,” he said. “There are certain economic realities in different markets where you only have a certain amount of revenue you can generate to then re-invest into the team.
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“If I’m a fan, I don’t care about what our limitations may be on our revenues. That’s for us in the front office to figure out. Fans care about who’s out there, are they giving it their all and are we winning or losing baseball games.”
The seeds of the public distrust in the Red Sox were planted in the aftermath of the club’s historic 2018 title, when Boston fired Dave Dombrowski and traded superstar Mookie Betts in a six-month span before the 2020 season. Outside of a Cinderella run to the ALCS in 2021, the Sox were mired in mediocrity — or worse — for much of a six-year period after their last title. Making fans and pundits even more skeptical of ownership’s commitment was Henry’s decision to stop speaking publicly — or answering questions — from reporters about the team. Henry was on hand Sunday and chatted privately with some players and others around the team but was not made available to take questions and brushed off any requests. His ban on media availabilities dates back six years to February 17, 2020, when he discussed the Betts trade at a press conference at JetBlue Park. He has not taken questions in a similar formal setting since.
The Red Sox also angered fans by trading another star player, Rafael Devers , last summer after a prolonged feud between the player and team. At the time of that deal in June, Kennedy promised that the club would re-allocate the dollars saved by moving Devers (and the rest of his contract) and despite the club’s recent loss of Alex Bregman , believes the Red Sox have done so by signing Suárez, extending Anthony and adding other talent to the organization .
“You’ve seen the re-allocation in many, many different ways,” Kennedy said. “All the moves that have been made are a reflection of using resources that we’re lucky to have.”
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The start of baseball season comes at a time of some uncertainty for Fenway Sports Group’s other properties. Liverpool FC has had a down year — the club is expected to miss out on Champions League play, with Kennedy saying its fans are “very frustrated right now” — and in December, it was announced that FSG planned to sell a “controlling interest” of the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Hoffmann Family of Companies, a private equity enterprise. In an email exchange with reporter Sean McAdam three years ago, Henry boasted : “Have we sold anything in the past 20+ years?” when asked if Liverpool would be sold in the coming years.
Kennedy largely deflected when asked about how the Penguins sale impacts the group’s future.
“We’ll see,” he said. “It’s a transaction that is wholly unrelated to anything we’re talking about here today. Not complete, and we’ll see where that goes.
“I see a future at Fenway Sports Group that hopefully is continuation of the first 25 years, which has been rooted in the Red Sox in the center of everything we do, Fenway Park at the center of everything we do and being active in the community being the center of everything we do. Putting a winning team on the field, winning championships and really having the next generation of fans experience what this last generation has experienced.”
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