Red Sox legend David Ortiz told the Associated Press that despite his old ballclub’s current position in the standings, owner John Henry really does care about his team.
Ortiz said that Henry was “worried” and that he had spoken to Henry recently about the downturn for the AL East team.
“He knows the direction of this team and he’s worried about the team’s situation more than what people think he is,” Ortiz said, while speaking with the AP at his celebrity golf tournament.
The Red Sox are currently 25-33 and sit dead last in the division.
“He’s worried. We had a conversation. I can see. I’ve known John a long time, him and the whole team — him and [chairman] Tom Werner, the whole group, they’re working on figuring things out to get this ride better,” Ortiz also said.
Boston has gone through a hellish season thus far, which has included a purge of the coaching staff in April that included firing manager Alex Cora and five other coaches.
“I sat down to talk to John, and he wants to figure it out. He wants to have the formula to go back to the old days,” he said. “It’s not like he just gives up. Sometimes people don’t understand that the way that this game goes, that it’s hard to stay up there.”
The rough season has led to even further frustration from Red Sox fans, who from 2004-2018 had seen Boston win four World Series titles.
A plane flew over Fenway Park last month calling on the Red Sox’s current ownership group to sell the team.
“When you worry, you worry about everything in general. You worry about the team, you worry about the fans and you worry about how everything is moving around,” Ortiz said. “I tell you, the boss is, he’s working, he’s working. He’s working on putting the pieces that moving forward things get better around here.”
Only time will tell if Ortiz’s faith is correctly placed in Henry and the Red Sox ownership group to turn the team around.
