It’s never too early to start thinking about the future when tasked with running a Major League Baseball franchise.
The Boston Red Sox have a good young nucleus that should keep the team competitive for the foreseeable future. But even though players such as Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi all are under team control for at least the next three seasons, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy acknowledged on CSNNE’s “Baseball Show” podcast the organization already has begun to consider their young players’ contracts and whether extensions make sense.
“I would just say, without going into specifics, it’s something that we talk about a lot,” Kennedy said, per CSNNE.com. “Now, there’s been a lot of discussion, but I wouldn’t want to go beyond that. But it’s important, again, as I talk about chess not checkers. You want to be thinking long term while having short-term success. So there’s been discussions, but I’ll stop short of saying anything beyond that.
“Those are ultimately decisions that (Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski) is making with respect to the player’s abilities. … Then we all sort of chime in on what the financial impacts would be on the franchise.”
Kennedy and Dombrowski are just two of the voices involved when it comes to making such decisions, and it’s reasonable to think a contract extension for any of the aforementioned players is down the list of priorities as Boston looks to contend for a World Series title in 2017. There’s no denying the Red Sox have a unique foundation in place, though. It makes sense for any organization to plan years ahead, but it’s especially true when there’s homegrown talent flourishing right before your eyes.
“First of all, I hope we can keep this core of players together for a long, long time,” Kennedy said, according to CSNNE.com. “Sometimes the reality around economics of baseball make that impossible, but we’ll see how it goes. But there’s a desire from (Red Sox owner) John Henry, (Red Sox chairman) Tom Werner, on down, to keep this group together. What an exciting time for Red Sox fans. You look at our outfield, you look at this young core of players that our scouting and player development get all the credit for. They’ve done a phenomenal, phenomenal job.
“I do think given the resources that we have, we should be able to retain our homegrown talent and players that we have. Now, again, I don’t want to state that categorically. Because down the road, you don’t know what’s going to happen, things could change. But there is a desire.”
Boston is a big baseball market, and the Red Sox haven’t been shy about spending money under the current ownership group. The next big moves could come internally, where the Red Sox are in a good place thanks to their still-developing core.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
