NESN announced that it will broadcast 24 Red Sox spring games, including 12 from JetBlue Park. However, fans and Boston insiders don’t seem impressed with the broadcast. They call out for a lack of local broadcasters in the booth. However, what’s more surprising was Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, known for his unabated view, backtracked from his criticism of the Red Sox broadcast. That leaves the Red Sox owner, John Henry, for a field day.

“Historic,” Henry replied via X to Shaughnessy as the latter backtracked from his earlier criticism of the Red Sox broadcast.

Surely it’s historic to see someone like Shaughnessy, who is known for his unabated negativity, cynicism, and contrarian style of journalism, eating his own words.

The story starts after Boston sports radio figure James Stewart complained about the lack of local broadcasters in the Red Sox-Pirates spring game. “Today I learn a lot about Mitch Keller and the Pirates. Ben Cherington is doing well. He won 3 rings with the Red Sox. I know it’s a pre-season/spring training trend and has been for years. But pay your local broadcast teams to do broadcasts that connect with your local,” Stewart said.

The game was broadcast from LECOM Park, the Pirates’ spring training home. And the announcer booth only had faces from Pittsburgh. Result? Stewart got to know more about how Mitch Keller and Ben Cherington are doing in the Pirates than what’s happening with the Red Sox. This complaint drew the attention of Shaughnessy, who called out the Red Sox’s broadcaster, NESN.

“Greedy Cheap NESN. Red Sox fans deserve so much better.”

However, it took Shaughnessy a few hours to realize that the flexibility of not sending local broadcasters to every spring venue is allowing NESN to televise more spring games than ever. And yes, it’s an MLB-wide practice getting followed by all the teams and nothing exclusive to NESN.

“I am told this is industry-practice across MLB these days – allowing teams to televise more spring games. Fair’s fair. In this instance, NESN is neither greedy nor cheap. My bad,” Shaughnessy acknowledged.

This comes with a brief counter from the Red Sox owner. Henry found it “historic” to witness Shaughnessy eat his own words and stop being critical of the Red Sox front office. In the face of huge criticism against the Red Sox for not investing enough in the roster, this comes as a relief for Henry.

While it’s now an MLB-wide trend to televise the spring games, it comes with a cost. Chances of recovery from the spring games are low, considering the low viewership and turnout. Hence, to keep costs under control, NESN chose not to send local broadcasters to all spring venues.

So, the Red Sox got relieved of any accusations here, but their low-key off-season? That would still haunt them during the regular season.

The Red Sox’s lack of offense depth could be their Achilles’ heel in 2026

The Red Sox lost Rafael Devers last year and Alex Bregman in free agency, leaving their hot corner vulnerable. The team is projected to field Caleb Durbin at the third. However, fans are skeptical whether Durbin coming with 11 HRs from the last year could fill the shoes of Bregman.

Yes, they have prospect Marcelo Mayer for the hot corner. But again, filling the gap of Bregman or Devers is a challenge. As per SI’s Karl Rasmussen, “The loss of Alex Bregman leaves the Red Sox without a clear answer at third base. Marcelo Mayer and Caleb Durbin are expected to get reps at the hot corner. But the team’s failure to retain Bregman was a big loss, both offensively and defensively.”

In the offseason, Boston was rumored to be interested in a few marquee names like Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger, and Kyle Tucker. But nothing happened in reality. So, even if the Red Sox front office is comfortable with their broadcast, their offense could be their Achilles’ heel this year.

The first leg of the regular season would prove if they could make the doubters backtrack same as Shaughnessy did regarding their offense.