During his now-infamous impromptu interview with Mazz and Felger Friday, John Henry commented that he had been against the Carl Crawford signing:
We had plenty of left-handed hitting. I don't have to go into why. I'll just tell you that, at the time, I opposed the [Carl Crawford] deal. But I don't meddle to the point of making decisions for our baseball team.
For some, this has been a point of some major contention. "Why would Henry throw Carl Crawford under the bus," they ask, "he's still going to be here for six more years, so why make him feel any more uncomfortable than he already is?
To those asking that question, you're missing the point.
First off, what Henry did not do was disparage Crawford. He never called into question his quality as a player, and the first thing he said before realizing that his reasons weren't the point was that the Sox already had too many left-handed hitters, and implying that putting a righty in left would make more sense.
More importantly, though, the point of that entire statement was that Henry's opinion on things shouldn't matter, because he's not part of baseball operations. He openly admits he's not well-informed enough to want to make those decisions, and that's precisely why he--along with every other owner in baseball--hires a GM to do that job for them.
Arguably this should've been one of the least controversial things Henry said in the entire interview. No Red Sox fans should want Henry to be involved in these decisions. When owners do get involved beyond setting budgets and writing checks, the team tends to suffer as a result.
If anything, what Carl should get from this is that the people who actually know what they're doing--the guys who actually spend the money instead of just providing it--thought he would be a wise purchase. Even if he hasn't proven it so far.