NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Hall of Famer David Ortiz said Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is concerned about the direction of his last-place team.
Speaking at his celebrity golf tournament — the “David Ortiz Soiree of Hearts” — the former Red Sox great said he’s talked to Henry recently about the club’s struggles.
“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 said Monday morning in an interview with The Associated Press.
Boston is 25-33, trailing the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays by 12 games.
“He knows the direction of this team and he’s worried about the team’s situation more than what people think he is,” he said.
The 76-year-old Henry, along with his partners, bought the club in 2002. He’s had limited interviews the past few years and hasn’t been part of a team news conference since the club traded star Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020.
Ortiz said it’s hard for fans to understand that Henry still cares about the team’s direction because of his public demeanor.
“The thing is, that you see John, and John is someone that he manages his emotions really well,” he said. “He’s very professional at everything he does. Sometimes, for people, it’s hard for them to understand that part of (him), but he’s worried.”
The 50-year-old Ortiz, who retired following the 2016 season and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, said Henry wants the club to return to its success from 2004 to 2018 when it captured four World Series titles.
“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.”
Henry also owns English soccer team Liverpool, which fired its manager, Arne Slot, on Saturday.
The Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches in April.
Last month, a small plane flew over Fenway Park towing a banner imploring ownership to sell the team.
Asked if Henry was worried about the fans, too, Ortiz said the owner thinks about everything.
“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,” he 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.”
Ortiz’s golf tourney supports the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, which has provided lifesaving heart surgeries for more than 1,900 children in New England and his native country, the Dominican Republic, and helped nearly 19,000 with cardiac care.
Hall of Famer and former Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera was among the celebrities on hand.
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