Boston Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy addressed the media at spring training on Sunday, speaking at length on a number of topics ahead of the 2026 season.
One reporter asked Kennedy to assess the Red Sox’s offseason, which prompted an optimistic response.
“It was a successful offseason,” Kennedy said. “It was long, arduous, lots of scenario planning, but excited that we improved the club in many ways.”
Boston made several high-profile moves this winter, upgrading at multiple positions. The Red Sox significantly improved their starting rotation after signing Ranger Suarez and trading for Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo, giving them one of the best rotations in baseball.
Boston also improved at first base by trading for Willson Contreras after struggling to get reliable production there with Triston Casas’ injuries over the past two seasons. The club shored up its infield defense as well, signing multiple former Gold Glove winners in Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Brendan Rodgers.
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Kennedy is hopeful those moves will help the Red Sox get back to the playoffs and go deeper into the postseason this year after they were eliminated in the AL Wild Card Round last fall.
“We said at the end of the year that we wanted to try to take that next step forward with this group in the postseason,” Kennedy said. “We obviously have a number of upgrades and additions. Time will tell, but there’s a lot of optimism in that room, I can tell you for sure.”
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Boston’s starting pitching looks elite, but the lineup has some question marks given Alex Bregman’s departure, the lack of high-end power and the surplus of outfielders. The Red Sox appear to have enough arms to contend for a title, but do they have enough bats?
As Kennedy said, time will tell.
