Just a few months ago, it was longtime MLB insider and columnist for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal, who suggested that the Red Sox could make a splash this season by pulling off a major trade for a starting pitcher and addressing their lack of righthanded hitting by signing Astros star Alex Bregman.
The projected trade–dealing Triston Casas to the Mariners–did not come through, but Boston did deal for a hoped-for ace, Garrett Crochet. And before that, of course, the Red Sox had been in the mix for star outfielder Juan Soto, going up to $700 million in their offer to him before he took more from the Mets.
The Soto push and the move for Crochet had Red Sox fans excited. It looked like a playoff push was in the offing, and that money would–finally–be spent. But as the winter has pressed on, Boston has done precious little else. They took a gamble on Walker Buehler on a one-year, $21 million contract, and his upside is undeniable.
However, that $21 million is the Red Sox’s biggest expenditure. They did not make adequate offers on any of their other pitching targets–Max Fried, Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell–and did not give Teoscar Hernandez an enticing enough offer to get him to leave the Dodgers.
If the Red Sox are serious about a playoff push, then, it could come down to Bregman, whom The Athletic projects to warrant a $189 million contract.
Red Sox Not Delivering on Promises
This weekend, Rosenthal–always both plugged-in and measured when he looks at teams–took the Red Sox to task for their inaction. And he did not hold back, claiming that the cheapskate approach favored by owner John Henry is still the Red Sox’s MO.
“The bigger issue is the Sox’s continued reluctance to spend big. A Boston Tea Party-type anger would be fitting at the team’s Fenway Fest fan event on Saturday,” he wrote.
Rosenthal scoffed at team president Sam Kennedy’s assertion that the goal is 90-95 wins.
He wrote: “Ninety to 95 wins? As presently constituted, the Red Sox look more like an 85-win club that could end up with 88 and sneak into the postseason. In a weakened American League, why do they keep operating like an AL Central wild-card hopeful? They are not better than the New York Yankees, and probably not better than the Baltimore Orioles. They just want to make the playoffs at the cheapest possible price.”
Alex Bregman or Bust Now?
This is all, of course, frustrating for Red Sox fans. Bregman, no doubt, has declined as a hitter and would create an issue defensively, as he’d have to move from third base to second, with Rafael Devers remaining at third. But the fact is, the Red Sox raised hopes that they’d be willing to spend to make this team a contender again.
Dealing for Crochet and giving Buehler a qualifying offer-level one-year contract does not constitute spending. Rosenthal cites last year’s failed postseason, during which Tom Werner promised the team would go “full throttle,” and notes that the team has been more careful in its wording this time.
“Kennedy, at least, is delivering empty promises in full sentences,” he wrote.
But the results have not been much different.
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Red Sox Torched Over ‘Empty Promises’ on Projected $189 Million Slugger