Ex-Red Sox executive: ‘Full throttle’ vow fails to manage expectations

This offseason, much has been made of the now-infamous November proclamation from Red Sox chairman Tom Werner that the team planned to go “full-throttle” in its attempts to get better this winter. Considering how Boston has made only incremental gains in that effort this winter by swapping out Chris Sale for Lucas Giolito in the rotation and Alex Verdugo for Tyler O’Neill in the outfield, many are wondering exactly what Werner meant by the phrase.

New chief baseball officer Craig Breslow hasn’t publicly commented on Werner’s thoughts but has unquestionably faced more pressure in his first offseason on the job because of the expectations his new boss set for him. And according to one former Red Sox executive, Werner’s failure to manage public expectations was a misstep at the outset of an important winter for the Red Sox.

Zack Scott, who worked for the Red Sox for nearly 17 years (including almost two as an assistant GM), shared his thoughts on Friday’s edition of the Fenway Rundown podcast.

“I think it’s always risky to make those kind of statements because you can’t predict market behavior very well,” Scott said. “When I heard that, the former baseball executive in me cringed a little bit because it’s, ‘Oh man, you’re setting an expectation.’ Maybe they’ll be able to reach (it). I believe that’s the intention. I think when Tom said that, that’s how he was viewing things. What they may define as ‘full throttle’ may be different than what maybe a fan defines (it as).