The Boston Red Sox are getting ready for the 2024 campaign after a poor 2023 season saw them finish in last place in the American League East. After entering the year with a severely undermanned roster, the Sox did alright to remain competitive for much of the year, but it ultimately wasn't much of a surprise to see them finish at the bottom of their division.
The offseason was supposed to be the time for Boston to turn things around. They fired their supposed penny-pinching general manager Chaim Bloom and replaced him with Craig Breslow, seemingly opening the door for big offseason moves to be made. Instead, for the most part, the Red Sox have put together one of the most uninspiring offseasons of work in recent memory.
For the most part, there's not much that is different about the Red Sox roster as they prepare for their next campaign, aside from the fact that they are actually worse than they were last year. Opening Day hasn't even arrived yet, but it's safe to say that ownership has already crushed all hope that the upcoming campaign is one to get excited about.
Red Sox ownership has dropped the ball this offseason
In a league where teams are divided into big-market teams and small-market teams, the Red Sox are a big-market team. While the New England region has been dominated by football and the Patriots over the past two decades, the Sox and their four championships since 2000 have provided a nice secondary act behind them. When Boston is winning, they have one of the most engaged fan bases in the MLB.
The problem is that the team's ownership has given fans no reason to be excited about, well, anything as we head into the 2024 season. Again, the narrative entering this offseason was that things were going to be different. After largely sitting out free agency in 2023, the front office was supposed to be committed to bringing in upper-echelon talent this time around.
Instead, the list of moves the Red Sox have made is pretty small. Their biggest free agent signing is Lucas Giolito, who posted a 6.97 ERA over the final 12 starts of his season last year. Chris Sale was dealt away, and while that wasn't the worst idea ever, the front office is contemplating trading away the top two pieces in their bullpen in Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin because they feel they are too expensive.
Remember, the Red Sox are a big-market team. They have the money to sign the biggest free agents available, which is basically all you need in a league that doesn't have a true salary cap. And yet, for two straight offseasons now, the team's ownership has sat on their hands, and are seemingly content to make money off of Boston while fielding a relatively incompetent team.
Make no mistake, this is not an issue that can be pinned on the front office anymore. Bloom shouldered a large share of the blame, and Boston fans (myself included) should probably be sending him apology letters in the mail for constantly complaining about him during his time in charge. Bloom operated with a small-market mentality, but it's clear he had limits imposed on him by John Henry and company.
Those limits have arguably been harsher on Breslow, who was seemingly the only guy who wanted Bloom's old job. Breslow was supposed to come in and spend the money that Bloom refused to spend. Instead, he's been handcuffed to the financial limitations that Bloom was dealing with. The Red Sox didn't hire two cheap general managers; they suddenly have found themselves with an ownership group that doesn't care about the team.
Boston still has a talented crop of players, spearheaded by Rafael Devers, who was shockingly handed a ten-year, $313.5 million extension last offseason after previous stars such as Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts were either traded away or allowed to walk in free agency for nothing. But unless some of their prospects end up making massive leaps in the majors, the Red Sox have virtually no shot of finding their way into the playoffs this year.
It's frustrating to admit for fans, but there's virtually no excitement surrounding the 2024 campaign. When you put together as lackluster an offseason as Boston has had, what's there to be excited about? It's clear that ownership isn't interested in building the Red Sox into a winner right now, and until they do, it would be wise to invest your time in the Boston Celtics or Bruins, two teams that actually want to win, for the foreseeable future.
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