Losing is good!

When one watches their favorite sports team, they usually root for them to win. Take me for example. The Red Sox are my favorite sports team. When I watch them on TV or go to a game at Fenway Park, I like them to win those games. Makes sense to me! I imagine all of you readers feel the same.

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It’s not rocket surgery. People want their favorite team to win games. But here’s the thing: Sometimes, in certain circumstances, it’s good for your favorite team to lose. And our Boston Red Sox find themselves in one of those circumstances.

While the Sox still have somehow not been technically eliminated from postseason contention, let’s all call a spade a spade. It’s over. Understanding that, it’s best to look to the future. And understanding that, it’s not a bad idea to look to the 2024 MLB Draft.

The Red Sox currently sit at 75-78 with 9 games left. If everything goes right, they could end up at 75-87. If they did manage to lose out, they would likely end up with a top 10 pick. The highest the Sox have picked in the last 25 years, outside of the Marcelo Mayer outlier, is 12th in 2013 (We don’t need to go into details on that one). Of course, the MLB Draft is often a crapshoot, but hey, the higher the pick the better.

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But the draft isn’t the real reason we want to lose out. The real reason is the mental state of a man named John Henry. If there is one thing we’ve learned through his two decades of ownership, it’s that John Henry is not a very confident guy. You’ll never hear it from him, mostly because he is now a hermit, but when fans are unhappy, he gets scared. And when he gets scared, his wallet opens up.

If you take a look at the three biggest contracts Henry has signed off on, all three (Gonzalez, Price, and Devers) came after seasons where the Sox missed the playoffs. The top two (Price and Devers) both came after last place finishes.

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When he’s looking down at a pissed off fanbase, John Henry does, in fact, pay up for those high-end free agents. And It just so happens that there are a couple of high-end free agents out there this offseason that would fit perfectly on our Red Sox.

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Am I dreaming big? Yeah, I am. And rightfully so. We’re getting into some uncharted waters as far as John Henry’s Red Sox. Only one playoff appearance in the last five seasons is truly abysmal. I don’t care that a World Series came right before that run. These are the Boston Red Sox.

So, yeah. Let’s lose out. The more embarrassed John Henry gets, the more money he spends. And I think I speak for all of us when I say: I’m ready for John Henry to spend some money.