FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It's an audacious statement by the owner of a baseball team that has won three World Series since he and his partners took over the club in 2002.
"I think we're as strong throughout the organization as we've ever been," said John W. Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, in meeting Tuesday with the media, as he customarily does early in spring training.
In case you weren't paying attention, Henry offered a variation on the same theme minutes later.
"Honestly, I would say from my perspective it's never been better," he said. "I saw John [Farrell] and Ben [Cherington] today, and we were saying it's never been better. Yes, we finished last [in 2014]. No doubt about it. Same thing in 2012.
"[But] if you look at 2012 and look at 2014 midway through the season, we play for championships, and midway through those seasons it became clear that wasn't going to happen. So we tore those teams apart. I mean, radically tore those teams apart, and we sacrificed the second half of the season, no doubt, to rebuild. We don't want to do that again. If we had kept those teams together, I doubt we would have finished last either year."
The record at least partially supports Henry's assertion. On Aug. 25, 2012, the day the Red Sox made a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which they unloaded Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett, they were 60-66, in fourth place in the American League East, 3 1/2 games ahead of Toronto. They went 9-27 the rest of the way to finish last, four games behind the Blue Jays.
Last season, the Sox were in last place with a 48-60 record, five games behind the Rays. They traded away starting pitchers Jon Lester, John Lackey and Jake Peavy, reliever Andrew Miller, shortstop Stephen Drew, and outfielder Jonny Gomes. They went 23-31 the rest of the way and finished six games behind the Rays.
"I think we're well positioned, we're better positioned than we were in 2013," Henry said. "[That] was a really special year that will never be replicated, but we're in many ways in a much better position than we were that year."
The Sox did not succeed in signing Lester as a free agent, but Henry has spent freely in his effort to restore the team to contending status, laying out $314.5 million in guaranteed money for just six players: Pablo Sandoval ($95 million), Hanley Ramirez ($88 million), Rusney Castillo ($72.5 million), Yoan Moncada ($31.5 million), Koji Uehara ($18 million) and Justin Masterson ($9.5 million).
The Moncada signing is not official, pending a physical, but the Red Sox payroll for luxury-tax purposes is expected to exceed $200 million, factoring in health benefits and other costs. That's the highest payroll in club history.
"Any time you spend -- whether it's a free agent, or any time you spend 50, 60, 100 million dollars on a player, it's a risk," Henry said. "As I said, it's so difficult to predict [player] performance. If your goal is to win championships, you have to be bold."
Henry did not guarantee another title, but he explained why he is so bullish about this season.
"I think there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic," he said. "I feel good about the pitching, feel great about the hitting, feel good about the organization, about the fact so many players came early this year. There seems to be a focus that has to make you feel good at this point."
He lavished praise on his manager and GM, although he admitted the club probably was remiss in not announcing that it had given Cherington an extension last May or June. Henry said he was mightily pleased that there had been no "leaks" during negotiations for that deal and claimed he had forgotten about it once it was done. A Boston Globe report of the extension came out only Saturday, when the club announced it had given a two-year extension to Farrell, with an option for the 2018 season. Oddly, neither Cherington nor Henry would reveal the length of the general manager's extension.
"I feel just terrific that we have two guys who are not only tremendous at what they do but are great people," Henry said. "[They] love working together; we love working with them. It's an idyllic situation. We'd like to keep the team together a long time as management."
"Idyllic" is probably not the first word to come to mind when talking about a team that has finished last twice in the past three years. Henry, however, said the club has a clear understanding of why it failed, and he disputed any suggestion that the timing was not right to extend either Farrell or Cherington.
"We know why we had a bad year," Henry said. "We took a lot of risks last year. We started rookies who weren't really ready. We took risks, but I have tremendous confidence ... in them and their staff. The whole organization has confidence in those guys."