I don't think that PR is the right thing that the Red Sox need to address. PR is best used for when there is a mistake and that entity needs to move past it. For example if a oil tanker dumps a couple of million gallons of crude oil into a body of water, the PR flacks go to work spinning that the disaster "wasn't that bad" and that the company is "doing all it can to clean up the area" and stuff like that. It's basically used for a one-time thing so that people will move on and continue to think of the company/organization in a better light.
I think that what you're getting at is do the Red Sox need better transparency or communication with their fan base? And I'd say in the most broadest terms, yes but with a big but. It has become very apparent that at some point the Boston ownership has pretty much said that they're done with giving out big money, long term deals. Maybe they looked at the ones that they've given out in the past and realized that they weren't good deals; which isn't 100% wrong. Even the ones that did work out for them, weren't great. It's apparent that they feel that younger players and veterans on short-term deals not only bring on-field success (which, if you look at the WS winning teams of 07, 13 and 18 is true) and also reaps them a financial boon. Signing big ticket free agents (you know the roster) usually leads to poorer performances (non 2004 team withstanding).
And here comes the big but, they can't honestly say that to their customers because Sox fans are a. smart and b. used to being in the mix for stars. Not only that, but the team needs more than one star. Dealing with the latter reason, we know how much John Henry is worth. We know how much FSG is worth. We know how much the Red Sox are worth. We also know how much a ticket to a Sox game goes for. How much a beer and a hot dog costs. How much NESN costs to folks outside the New England area. So there's a disconnect there where the team is worth x, the fans are paying y and the Red Sox production is z. Those numbers don't add up.
So what is the front office to do? They can level with us and say, "We're in this business to make money and we find that we're making the most money by our new financial structure. Maybe we'll go back to our free spending days, but maybe we won't." Or they can do what they're doing now and insist that they're still a big market team and that they're trying really hard you guys to sign a big ticketed free agent but they won't come to Boston for some reason. I don't think that either way is going to endere the ownership to their fanbase, but at least with the first one, you could say that they are being honest.
I have a biased view (yeah, no shit?) of ownership that I think that they think we're dumb and that we don't really see what's going on here and how they've changed. I think most of us do see it and it's just whether you want to accept it or fight it. I'm kinda done fighting it, TBH, it's just exhausting. Henry is like every other billionaire in that he doesn't want to lose money. He's not some generous benefactor, he's not running the Sox as some sort of civic duty, he's doing it to make cash. And that's his right, I don't think it's my place to tell anyone how to make a buck. He's just another dude looking to take my money from my wallet. I was okay when he did that when he was signing big time free agents and stocking his club with players that were fun to watch.
Aside from 2021, the Sox haven't been fun to watch since 2018. They're boring. They're bad. There's nothing really to see or root for. Some players are interesting, but there's not enough of them. Scores of faceless pitchers have taken the mound in the last three years and I'm not sure if I could correctly match a majority of the faces to the majority of the names. I'm a huge baseball fan who will watch any game and if I'm not connected, I don't know how you get the average fan much less the casual fan to care.
Which returns to the original question, the Boston Red Sox don't have a PR problem they have a perception problem. Nobody really cares about them as much as they used to--and as much as some of the folks around here say that doesn't matter, it really does. How do you solve that issue? You solve it by one of two ways: winning (that solves everything) or you make a splash with a player that will move the needle via a signing (not likely this year, again) or a trade (maybe, but who?).
The offseason is like a semster. If you're not aware, now a days you can follow your kids' progress and see what their grades are every day if you want, much like the MLB offseason. Maybe your kid has a D+ in geometry and even though there are two weeks left in the semster your kid swears he's going to bring his mark up to a B. And sure, that might be true but right now it's a D+ and it's okay to be angry that he has that grade now even though in two weeks he could drag it up to a better mark. There are 30 days left until ptichers and catchers report. As presently constituted the Sox aren't any better than they were last year. They could be. But they don't appear to be. Not only that, but the majority of the fan base isn't buying it. Sox ownership and FO have a lot of work to do in 30 days if they want the fan base to change their perception and be engaged. To continue the school analogy, the Sox' "classmates" are more engaged (for good and bad). With a new coach, the third pick in the draft and some front office intrigue, the Pats are going to be the talk of the town for the next six months. The Celts look like they're going to be Championship contenders. The Bruins have the third most points in the league in their "bridge year". The Sox desparetely need to do something.
I don't perceive that anything is going to happen and no amount of PR is going to be able to wallpaper over another boring season at the Fens.