Red Sox owner John Henry, in a “rare public appearance,” found himself “heckled and booed in his own ballpark” during Monday’s NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park, according to John Tomase of NBC SPORTS BOSTON. Two fans recorded themselves “imploring him to sign" Red Sox 3B Rafael Devers -- "or anyone -- as he parked his car.” While another had his "pro-Devers sign confiscated.” Tomase noted the Red Sox “languish… in the midst of one of their most disappointing offseasons ever” while “playing perpetual bridesmaids in free agency and losing more talent than they've added.” It seems the days of Theo Epstein "breaking furniture and Larry Lucchino breaking heads” over the likes of Jose Contreras and Mark Teixeira “choosing pinstripes are over.” The Red Sox have not “felt this disengaged” since the early 1990s. Tomase: “Not only do they look bad on paper, they're almost completely devoid of star power.” The anger Red Sox Fans feel toward Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom, whose offseason “can only be described as ineffectual,” that anger is “finally being redirected toward the man writing the checks.” Henry “should be prepared to pay” for the club's “demoralizing” philosophical shifts with “empty seats and emptier ratings.” Henry’s fanbase is “growing agitated, and the boos he heard Monday could just be the start” (NBC SPORTS BOSTON, 1/3). The Red Sox yesterday reportedly signed Devers to a one-year deal (Mult., 1/4).
HIGHLIGHT OF THE SEASON: In Boston, Bill Speros writes the Winter Classic “may be the highlight at Fenway Park until the Bruins return with the Stanley Cup sometime between June 27-29.” Red Sox Flex Pack seats are still “available that include Opening Day” and there is “nothing the Red Sox can do to out-do themselves on Opening Day to top the Winter Classic ceremony.” The team's $17.5M, one-year deal with Devers to avoid arbitration “does nothing to keep him here beyond 2023.” This season's Red Sox “have lowered expectations to a level not seen since the Big Dig.” Speros notes the Red Sox cannot “count on any of the old wizardry this franchise has used successfully in the past 20 years to keep the public entertained on NESN” making the road to “baseball irrelevance” in Boston shorter than ever (BOSTON HERALD, 1/4).
