Yankees: Red Sox president takes defensive shot at NYY over trade deadline

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 13: Red Sox CEO and president Sam Kennedy talks to manager Alex Cora #20 of the Boston Red Sox looks on before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on April 13, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 13: Red Sox CEO and president Sam Kennedy talks to manager Alex Cora #20 of the Boston Red Sox looks on before a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on April 13, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images) /
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It took Yankees fans a LONG time to get any sort of bragging rights together in 2021, but after a trade deadline where Brian Cashman gave up ancillary pieces to obtain Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo, the team is now battling adversity with a few reinforcements in tow.

The Red Sox? Despite a flaming hot first half, they’re suddenly treading water (at best).

If not for a few stunning late-game comebacks at Fenway, the dead-in-the-water Yankees would be basically even with Boston, and neither team has faced one another following the Rizzo and Gallo additions.

Of course … no one has seen the Red Sox additions, really. Kyle Schwarber isn’t active, and relievers Hansel Robles and Austin Davis appear to be subtraction by addition.

None of that stopped Red Sox president Sam Kennedy from taking a shot at the Yankees, though, after being grilled over his lack of response to Brian Cashman’s maneuvers.

If you think being in first place in mid-July matters, then these quotes are for you!

"“They had to be active because I think they are 3-10 against us, Greg,” Kennedy said."

Ooh, big man! King troll Sam Kennedy! Zing! Hey, you might want to win some baseball games, because it seems like things aren’t coming to your group of guys so effortlessly in the second half. Maybe someone’s picked up on your signs?

Oh, no, sorry, that was the guy you hired. Never mind.

This is definitely the kind of answer that usually wins you points in New England, but when things are spiraling (10-14 in their last 24 games after losing 2/3 to Detroit), Red Sox fans don’t really care much for stirring up anti-Yankees quips. They want results. Between the pitching staff and the struggling-to-hit-with-RISP lineup, it seems like certain reinforcements could’ve helped the team get to the finish line … other than, say, a DH type in Kyle Schwarber who will now be tasked with playing first base.

Suffice to say, Alex Cora is beginning to lose his mind a bit, and went off in Thursday’s postgame after the team’s sixth loss in seven games. Perhaps he’ll be comforted by Kennedy’s shot at a set of Yankees losses that already feel ancient?

Last time I checked, winning teams don’t take victory laps in early August. It seems to me like Sam Kennedy wasn’t prepared for the Yankees to make such an impressive charge amid so much adversity, and thought the Sox would be able to coast in first place while adding monstrous pop in Schwarber without supplementing the pitching staff.

He could be right, but doubts are beginning to seep in. You can’t call Yankee fans lame for yelling, “27 rings!” will also bragging about victories from early June while you’re sliding down the standings.