Not a lot of good news from the Red Sox in Fort Myers.

Boston — Sports fans occasionally lament the media’s propensity to highlight the negative. It’s reasonable criticism from those who merely want to celebrate their favored team or teams’ victories.

In light of this, let’s attempt to evaluate any encouraging news that emerges from Fort Myers as the Red Sox begin their season.

Alright. Let’s begin with Ceddanne Rafaela. He is vying for the starting position in center field. That’s awesome. And after that, you have—oh! Netflix.

Later this year and again the next year, the Red Sox will be available on Netflix. Quite nice. What else is there to say? The weather foretell appears promising. That’s a full ten days in the field. Sunny and in the high seventies. Good.

You understand. With two consecutive last-place finishes under their belt and no significant additions made during the offseason, the Boston Red Sox’s prospects for 2024 are as dire as they get. And when you add up everything that is currently coming out of Fort Myers, it gets hard to understand how a team that was once the envy of MLB could fall so far so quickly.

–On Monday, John Henry showed up to camp, but he declined to speak with the media. One account claims that he scoffed at the thought of even having to talk to the reporters covering his squad.

That isn’t really new because Henry ceased speaking with the media many years ago. He took the stage last year for the team’s winter weekend celebrations with the supporters, but he decided not to come this year after experiencing constant jeers.

–The team’s biggest player, Rafael Devers, expressed his opinion that the roster needs to be strengthened.

Star players in Boston used to be able to spend money on the roster without having to beg the front office and ownership group for it.

–Teoscar Hernandez was adamant about joining the Red Sox. But the squad was unable to get him with a bid. View this video:

That individual merely desired to be a member of the Red Sox team. (He ultimately agreed to a one-year, $23.5 million contract with the Dodgers, a team that is making the kind of spending commitments that many wish the Red Sox would make.)

When asked explicitly if he planned to stay with the Red Sox beyond the 2024 season, manager Alex Cora stated he didn’t want to respond. Cora declined to comment during his first spring meeting with reporters, where he primarily talked about how exhausted he was after the previous season. Additionally, he informed everyone that he would not be managing for another five years.

–When asked if he thought the Red Sox will make the playoffs this year, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow responded in the negative. He declined to answer. “Uh, you know, I think it’s — I think it’s kind of foolish to make predictions like that,” Breslow replied. “I believe that this will.

According to one story, the team’s lack of progress over the winter has “embarrassed” “people around the team”. “I think that there are people in this organization who are genuinely embarrassed by the way the offseason unfolded, by the product that they’re gonna be putting on the field this year, by the fact that we go into a season kind of knowing that they’re going to finish last,” said John Tomase of NBC Sports Boston. He went on to say that he believed owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner had different ideas about how to create a team and how much to invest.

–The team signed two pitchers, both of whom are probably not going to pitch this season. Liam Hendriks and Michael Fulmer are both recuperating from.

That doesn’t do much for this year’s club, but they might be able to assist the team in 2025. (Similarly, while giving up John Schreiber for a pitching prospect who has only played at High-A level may be a sensible long-term decision, it will undoubtedly make the 2024 Red Sox worse.)

–Team president and CEO Sam Kennedy disclosed this week that “[the front office] got a FaceTime from Dustin Pedroia,” a tactic Dustin Pedroia is using to try and get the front office to sign free agents. “Additionally, he reminded us of the people still in the market and the potential opportunities. We therefore valued Pedey’s point of view.