Boston Red Sox
“There’s no way to sugarcoat it. It’s been awful.”
Sam Kennedy didn’t mince words about the 2026 Red Sox’ play so far. Photo by: Barry Chin/Globe Staff
June 11, 2026 | 2:42 PM
4 minutes to read
A Red Sox season that once started with so much promise has quickly devolved into disaster.
Following Boston’s series sweep at the hands of the Rays on Wednesday, the Red Sox now sit 12 games below .500 at 27-39.
This marks the first time Boston has been 12 games below .500 in June since the 1997 season.
Even though Boston is not completely buried in a relatively pedestrian American League, their playoff odds are now just at 12.8 percent, per FanGraphs.
Speaking on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show” on Thursday morning, Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy didn’t hold back when asked about Boston’s poor start to the season.
“I think it’s important here at the outset just to acknowledge how embarrassing and unacceptable, maddening, frustrating — whatever words you want to use — the past two and a half months have been. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. It’s been awful,” Kennedy said. “Especially when you consider the stated goal of building upon what happened last season. … It’s been incredibly frustrating. I just want to acknowledge that.”
Kennedy then echoed that his own frustrations with the Red Sox are also shared by the rest of Boston’s ownership group, including principal owner John Henry.
“Of course. We all are. Everybody. John Henry. Tom Werner. Myself. Craig Breslow. The whole group,” Kennedy said. “It’s been maddening just day in and day out. We’re all frustrated. Our fans have got to be livid. We’re just not where we expected to be. We have to own that. We’re not pretending otherwise. We all watch the same games.”
Several factors have played a hand in Boston’s disheartening start to the season, including extended absences from franchise players like Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony due to injury.
But Boston’s inability to add another impact bat or two to pair with Willson Contreras has been a severe misstep for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
After Wednesday’s loss to Tampa, the Red Sox rank last in MLB in home runs (52), 29th in runs scored (258), and 27th in slugging percentage (.376).
Despite Boston’s evident roster flaws, Kennedy defended Breslow on Thursday — stating that firing the Red Sox exec is not an option at this stage of the season.
“I fully understand and appreciate questions regarding Craig Breslow and his job security and all that,” Kennedy said. “But the issue of a change there, just to be clear, that’s not even on the table. Craig is working as hard as anybody in terms of getting things back on track.
“But again, words are hollow right now, and as bleak as things appear, I think it would be ridiculous to say anything other than that we’re all feeling it. We’re working to get us back on that trajectory we really thought we were on.”
Kennedy’s comments fall in line with a report from The Boston Globe earlier this week that the Red Sox have not considered firing Breslow at this point.
Despite the sizable number of roster missteps that have hampered Boston since Breslow has been at the helm, Kennedy defended his chief baseball officer’s efforts to build the Red Sox’s pitching pipeline.
“If you zoom out and take a step back, we brought Bres in three years ago, well-known to the organization as a player,” Kennedy said. “We brought him in to lead this baseball operation and to do a lot of difficult things. Primarily, to re-work our pitching infrastructure. That had been an area of weakness. We’ve had some great success there. We got back to the playoffs.
“With the moves we made in the offseason, whether it was bringing in Sonny [Gray], Ranger Suarez or Willson Contreras, we really felt we were gonna take that next step this coming year. Obviously, that’s looking like a huge mountain to climb. We can shut down and put our heads in the sand or we can own it, acknowledge it and just grind through it. That’s what we’re choosing to do.”
One way that Breslow could presumably give himself some breathing room when it comes to his job security involves adding an impact bat before MLB’s Aug. 3 trade deadline.
ESPN’s Buster Olney noted last week that the Red Sox have been on the prowl for a bat already this year — even if said trade might require Boston to take on a “bad contract” to complete said swap.
But speaking on Thursday, Kennedy was candid when asked if the Red Sox should look to buy in a season where the odds of an improbable playoff push are growing smaller and smaller by the day.
“With the passage of time, you have to take an honest assessment and look and see where you are,” Kennedy noted. “At the current moment, there are a lot of discussions going on in terms of improvement and how we get this thing back on track. Looking at every single area of the roster and player personnel. Bres and his team are doing that.
“But look, let’s be honest. Unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was,” Kennedy responded. “It wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise. But we’re here in mid-June. We need to see what happens over the next couple weeks, and then we’ll reassess.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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