If we're going to parse the vagaries of trade deadline reporting, we'll be here all week. "Connected to" means that teams were reported to have had interest in acquiring Eovaldi and JD in particular, and the Sox were reported to be willing to deal them. If that's not the case, fine, but all we know is what we hear from the press.
So, if we assume that to be at least minimally true, one of three things happened.
1. They asked for more than was reasonable, and their potential trading partners all went elsewhere.
2. They changed their mind as the deadline drew closer, for reasons unknown.
3. They are committed to a middle ground strategy, which is more or less what you're suggesting: looking for offers that match their valuation, if not exactly as an abstraction, then at least as a guiding principle. Value-hunting is good, and it does work out sometimes (hello, 2013). But it's also possible they end up with nothing but a couple of compensatory picks which, while not valueless, are likely not as good as the slightly less-than-ideal offers that they fielded this week. (Again, assuming that we can trust the reporting). In this case, the middle ground looks more like half-measures, and the abstracted pursuit of value doesn't actually manifest on the field.
I'm not sure I love any of the options, tbh. I like your perspective the most, but I'm not sure I trust it right now, and it seems to be as much of a gamble as any.