Look, this is a VERY peculiar time for the organization. Because, they are rebuilding, BUT they are winning now, AND ... they have a core with an expiration date of 2022 (X will opt out, so might Sale, Eovaldi, Erod, Vazquez up, JD probably gone after this year ...). Some guys might be resigned and others not. Some FA brought in ... but the transition that's coming will require some good players producing brought up through the system, ready to go in 2023. And right now, the Sox don't have many guys like that who can meet that timeline. If they had twice as many of that kind of guy as they have now, Scherzer or Berrios would be on the team ....but they don't, so they had to hang on to Duran, Casas, Houck, Seabold given what is right around the bend.... We simply couldn't compete for the best players during deadline 2021.
I think if the Sox had been playing .500 ball this would be easier to digest. But the team is existing within a fraught paradox of rebuilding/but at the end of era with a great core ... coming off a last place season with low expectations/having the best record in the league ...of needing to GFIN/but not having the farm to put them over the top.
This is a year of cognitive dissonance for this organization. No easy solutions.
THAT SAID - it is perplexing that a mid-rotation arm, or quality set up man wasn't acquired. The Sox DO have the pieces for that kind of acquisition, and with the poor starting pitching and fraying bullpen, the clear need. You think Bloom could have done better than a dude with a 4.91 era ....