So somewhere Chaim Bloom is laughing?
Just a note- there's not one good reason a player would ever, ever say to the media that he DOESN'T want to play in a particular place. You'd just invite an avalanche. They'll say real nice hedging things about what a nice place it is and how after it all came down to it, they made the best decision for themselves and their family and LET'S GO CARDINALS!!! (or some other place).
Boston has it's charms, plenty of them.... but maybe not for everyone. You're fooling yourselves if you think Boston STILL doesn't have a reputation as an insanely racist place... right or wrong. It's still a joke told at least once a day everywhere with some joker taking on a "southie" accent and saying some horrifying racist shit. Other cities may be better.... or worse.... but the reputation Boston has still sticks. Which, honestly is sad, because I don't think it accurately reflects Boston these days. When I go back there it's such a different place than the town I grew up knowing (what the hell happened to all those white skinhead irish thugs that literally were roaming all over the place???). I'm 100% certain that black athletes STILL have to think twice before signing to play in Boston. Cities like Baltimore, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, LA.... the black population in those cities has a noticeable impact on the city. It STILL doesn't in Boston. Same with Latino culture.
Boston I think right now is a desired destination for moderate types that don't lean towards a hunting/fishing "rural" culture with strong christian roots. There's lots of white players that want to be closer to their values and Boston (and some of the cities mentioned above) may not be attractive to them. Again, other players want the big lights, billboards, media and fan frenzy and close approximation to insanely beautiful women (no offense, Boston.... but NY and LA is where that's all at). When the offer is a stupidly high amount of money, there's lots of players that are fine with $50M rather than $75M. That delta isn't enough to move the needle
I don't understand the denial of this. I also don't think Boston is a shithole whatsoever. It's lovely. First class. Small but with an international highly educated culture. I do think it's always going to be challenging for the Sox to attract pitchers, more than positional players- a lot of that is park related too.