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Red Sox CEO preaches patience for 2021: 'We are building back up'

Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Boston Red Sox aren't ready to dive back into contention just yet.

Sam Kennedy, the team's president and CEO, admitted Tuesday the club is taking a step back this season to recalibrate for the future.

"I think it would be inaccurate to say we are going for it with an all-in approach that perhaps we did prior to the 2018 title," Kennedy told Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe.

"We cherish that title - and all of them - but the way we built that team came at a price, which included, importantly, a depleted farm system and some depleted draft picks along the way.

"So we are building back up, and as we do this hopefully the right way, we'll have a chance to be competitive in the American League East in 2021, but also for the longer term."

Kennedy said he understands fan frustration over the team's lack of splashy trades and free-agent signings so far this offseason, but he added that the club is trying to create sustainable success.

"Take a step back. What are we doing? We are aggressively pursuing our fifth championship. We want to do it in a way where the sixth and seventh are not far behind," Kennedy said.

The Red Sox have won nine championships in their history, but four since breaking an 86-year drought in 2004.

"So we're working to build a team that will contend for a championship year in and year out," Kennedy said. "We're not prioritizing a short-term splash over getting to that goal. We're looking to build this thing the right way, brick by brick."

But much has changed since the Red Sox last won the World Series in 2018.

Boston traded Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers before the 2020 season, then saw ace Chris Sale undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery before the campaign began. J.D. Martinez and Andrew Benintendi struggled badly once the season commenced, and Rafael Devers played below expectations as the team finished last in the AL East.

Recent reports have suggested the Red Sox are on the verge of some moves, but it's unclear what those might be.

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