I think it’s a omewhat concerning, yes, but not calamitously or scandalously so, like so many seem to feel.
The AL East is really, really good. I genuinely think people overlook that. It’s less that the Red Sox flag has been substantially lowered than it is that the pole has gotten taller.
I think the Red Sox made a really serious overhaul to their pitching development infrastructure, but I get that it doesn’t pack the dopamine hit of a major free agent signing or trade.
It was stupid to say “full throttle,” as it’s stupid to say anything. As a journalist, I think everyone should talk to the media. As a fan, and someone who’s so thoroughly exhausted by the Red Sox fan base and its addiction to negativity, I don’t see the point of them saying much of anything.
I don’t think that Breslow “reversed course” on trading prospects, but he’s not going to do so for the sake of it. I don’t think they reversed course on wanting to sign a free agent, but they’re not going to drop $175 million on a good not great starter like Montgomery for the sake of it. And I think that’s because they are smart, not cheap. The team is better positioned by improving Houck, Crawford and Whitlock, under a very highly regarded group of pitching development coaches, into solid starters (maybe Winckowski too) than banishing them to bullpen roles after a disastrous defensive year.
All respect to Devers, but I think he’s responding as much to the noxious pessimistic narrative that has manifested around the Red Sox this offseason — yes, largely because of the reporting angles and superstitions that MassLive reporters have trotted out there — than anything else.
They keep writing the same nut again and again — that the Red Sox are not acting like a team going all in to compete this year — like it’s some shocking exposé. It’s not. It’s not, to me, some horrible mismanagement that the Sox have not taken some reactionary approach and aggressively outbid on every FA they could. We used to laugh at teams that did that on this board! Masslive has no interest in writing about the relative utility of adding a guy like Snell —
whose fastball had the second-lowest run value in MLB last year — at his absurd asking price. They have no interest in comparing Jordan Montgomery — his four average pitches and below-average strikeout rate — to what we saw from Houck last year, or to similar average-velocity command lefties’ production into their 30s. Only that the Red Sox are villains for not paying them what they want.
We’re not going to resolve this this offseason. In 2026 or so, we’ll be able to look back at the productivity of Snell, Montgomery, Houck, Whitlock, Crawford, and Pivetta at the major league level; guys like Sandlin, Fitts, Gonzalez and Perales and their acclimations to the majors, and whatever star free agent(s) the Red Sox have added to accompany the growing core.