The Red Sox fan base was “indifferent about rallying behind” LF Jarren Duran, 3B Rafael Devers or C Connor Wong in All-Star voting this year, which is a “product of poor messaging from the Sox about the direction of the team,” according to Peter Abraham of the BOSTON GLOBE. The Red Sox have “outplayed modest preseason expectations,” but the “All-Star voting, the lack of sellouts, the preponderance of visiting fans at Fenway, and the sharp drop in local media coverage would be worrisome signs for any franchise.” Abraham wrote other factors in the fan indifference include a “series of terrible baseball decisions going back to” the firing of former President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski in 2019 and a “tepid offseason.” For a “foundational team” such as the Red Sox, it should be “especially concerning.” Duran “will find his way onto the All-Star team” and the voting “will be forgotten.” Abraham: “Overcoming apathy is a much bigger problem” (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/29). In Boston, Gabrielle Starr wrote Red Sox fans "didn’t show up for their players the way other fanbases did. ... If you think you’re going to stick it to John Henry and Fenway Sports Group by not voting for Duran, then I have a bridge to sell you” (BOSTON HERALD, 6/28).
