Watching Xander Bogaerts sign with another team, then claiming “he was never staying here anyway” would not be a good start. It’s time for the Sox to take steps to improve the team. Meanwhile, it feels as if Red Sox fans are being taken for granted (a hike in ticket prices after the 2022 train wreck?) and have cause to feel abandoned. The Celtics and Bruins are at the tops of their games and the Patriots continue to give fans great reasons to care. Red Sox CEO/president/mouthpiece Sam Kennedy told the Globe Wednesday, “This discussion of lack of focus or distraction comes up when we underperform at the major league level, and that is 100 percent on us … so we deserve the criticism.” The New York Post reported this week that John Henry (who also owns the Globe) is a “possible bidder” for the NFL’s Washington Commanders. Boston’s baseball team, a cherished local institution, has become a cold parcel in a sprawling portfolio that includes the Liverpool Football Club (now for sale), the Pittsburgh Penguins, Roush Racing, the Fenway Bowl, Fenway Music Hall, various real estate ventures, and apparent new interest in acquiring an NBA franchise. The same cannot be said for the ever-expanding Fenway Sports Group. This space has been harpooning needy Bob Kraft and his Patriots stewardship for a long time, but at least Patriots fans know that the football owner cares about his team more than anything else. Sixty-one percent of fans polled said the Sox had changed for the worse, and only 4 percent thought things had changed for the better. Similarly, the latest Channel Media & Market survey makes it clear that fans are increasingly dissatisfied with the way the Sox are being run. That is less than a quarter of what it was back in the Manny/Pedro/Papi Golden Days. Closely guarded NESN ratings indicate that the Sox averaged a 3 share in the market at the end of last season. There are numbers that should alarm the Sox. But how long do the FSG defenders hold on to that? When does this ownership group get its feet put to the fire for shedding payroll and producing five last-place finishes in 11 seasons? This well-worn sentiment regularly triggers a surge of loyalists, quick to remind, “Yeah, but they’ve won four championships … blah, blah, blah.” While acknowledging that the Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots are in season, and the Sox are not, how many times have we been able to safely say that the Red Sox are the least popular team in New England? By a wide margin?
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