While the Boston Red Sox had been one of the biggest spenders in MLB for much of this century, the team’s CEO admitted this week that those days may be over for now.

After reaching the American League Championship Series in 2021, the last two seasons have been major letdowns for Red Sox fans. For two straight years, the team has finished dead last in the AL East with a 78-84 record. Yet, there have also been some worrisome signs of a notable shift in their team-building strategy over that time.

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Last winter, the legendary organization was unable to re-sign homegrown star Xander Bogaerts in free agency. It was a frustrating step back for fans since it came a couple of years after they shipped off Mookie Betts, another player the franchise developed into an All-Star. In response to Bogaerts leaving, the team did not bring in players of equal or better value.

While that was annoying to Red Sox fans, this winter has been even worse as Boston has been linked to several notable free agents like Yoshinobu Yamamoto but has made no signings of note. On Friday, CEO Sam Kennedy was asked by reporters about what seems like a shift to an even smaller payroll in 2024, and the team boss did not deny it.

Boston Red Sox CEO responds to fan outrage

“I don’t know that for sure,” Kennedy said about a lower payroll in 2024 at the team’s annual Winter Wonderland event. “We don’t talk about specific payroll numbers. But I want to be clear that the build that we’re engaged in and have been engaged in will dictate the spending. We were engaged with some long-term, high-profile free-agent discussions that we didn’t match up on.

“And we’re going to stay disciplined with this approach to make sure that we have this growing core of young players. And that’s really important because we think that’s going to position us for the best chance to be successful for the long term.”

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Unsurprisingly, the response and the lack of roster upgrades this offseason brought boos from the fans in attendance, which he admitted they have been hearing loud and clear on various platforms.

“I want you to know the boos, the anger, the hate we see on social media, we get it,” he said. “It is our job to turn things around to make you proud. There’s only one way to turn the boos into applause, and that’s winning baseball games. That’s on us.”

The Boston Red Sox have the tenth-highest payroll in the league heading into the season.