John Henry insults Red Sox fans intelligence with latest out-of-touch comments

Since winning 108 games in the regular season en route to the fourth World Series title this century, the Boston Red Sox have been mired in mediocrity. The club's season-high win total in the five full years since winning the Fall Classic is just 92 (2021) while they've also endured three losing seasons, including back-to-back 78-84 campaigns in 2022 and 2023.

Chaim Bloom, who the Red Sox parted ways with this past offseason, was undeniably the scapegoat for the lackluster results in Boston. However, with Craig Breslow taking over, the hope is that things would quickly start to change. They haven't, however. Instead, the Red Sox have hovered around .500 all season (sitting at 32-31 of this writing) and some have even said that has been overachieving.

And in reality, it all comes back to Red Sox owner John Henry. In Bloom's case, the edict was to cut salary, which led to the much-maligned departures of fan-favorites like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, among others. Now with Breslow, it was clear that the team was not willing to spend, surely still coming down from Henry.

So is Henry taking any accountability for his lack of investment in constructing a contending roster? Of course not!

John Henry claims Red Sox fans have unrealistic expectations

While Henry emphatically the Financial Times that he has no plans to sell the Red Sox, he then took aim at the Fenway Faithful with some both ill-advised and outlandish remarks. After saying that fans have "unrealistic" expectations for the Red Sox, he expounded upon that with a truly baffling and, frankly, awful take.

"Because fans expect championships almost annually," Henry said. "They easily become frustrated and are not going to buy into what the odds actually are: one in 20 or one in 30."

Yes, the chances of winning a World Series each season are 1/20 or 1/30. Henry isn't wrong there. However, saying that's what fans are expecting is just plain wrong.

Fans know that winning a World Series every year isn't going to happen. But what fans do want is the feeling that the investment from ownership in the front office is done with the intent to build a roster that fans feel like can compete to win a ring. And nothing about the Red Sox over the past few years has given anyone that feeling. In fact, the product put on the field has felt lucky to even be in playoff contention when they have been.

It's an insult to the intelligence of fans for Henry to say that the expectations aren't realistic. The Red Sox are one of the most historic, proud and, most importantly in this case, richest franchises in baseball. That doesn't have to mean a dynastic run of World Series every year. But it absolutely should mean that ownership isn't holding back resources to hold money for other sports-related investments and, thus, not even letting Red Sox fans feel like the team has a shot.

This was the first time that Henry has given a lengthy interview and some time. And if this is the type of hogwash he's going to spew when he does, maybe he should wait even longer for the next one. No one wants to hear this farcical explanation, nor does any fan want to have their intelligence insulted like this.