Is anyone else irritated that Masslive can't be bothered to provide an ounce of context or even-handedness about this standoff between the Red Sox FO and Boras clients? The framing of their reporting (and podcast) is mostly silly punditry at this point, all of it framed entirely around the Red Sox's (they are assuming) mandated cuts to payroll.
More context is required here. If you're going to tell this story properly, you have to include the necessary variable of Montgomery's asking price. They've been stoking outrage all offseason, with the implication that John Henry has given up on the team, the players, the fans. If people are happy to lap that narrative up, go for it. But there is a lot more to the story! And as many have pointed out, it's not just the Red Sox passing on Snell and Montgomery at their asks. For example, there's plenty of data about the aging curves of so-so stuff pitchers into their mid-thirties — why not do a story about Breslow's presumed apprehension about committing $150-175 million worth of resources to this kind of player? The reporting would be better if it at least gave some lip service to the notion that the Red Sox do not want to repeat a Patrick Corbin kind of signing, a Robbie Ray kind of signing, a Gio González kind of signing, a Carlos Rodón kind of signing, a Tyler Anderson kind of signing, at far more dollars than most of those guys signed for.
If this were a political or even municipal issue, it'd be clearer to see what's missing from their reporting. If your local school district passed a budget to the council that included an extra 25% increase in annual expenditures for the next 5-6 years to tear down its perfectly useful athletic facility and build a new state of the art, top of the line one in its place, you'd expect your local reporter to include that fact. You wouldn't want a story about school budget deliberations that viciously excoriates the city government for failing its children without even getting into the details of the issue, right?