I sit to write this full of rage. Rage, dear reader, rage. The very thought of this miserable off-season inspires it, you see. Lest you forget, Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner promised that “we’re going to be competitive next year. We’re going to have [to] be full throttle in every possible way.”
And how was that promise realized? In a two year contract for once-prospect-now-journeyman Lucas Giolito (now out for the year with an elbow injury) and a handful of barely above replacement-level position players. Rather than the disappointing signings, my rage grows from the fact that the Red Sox, a team with a promising offense and plenty of potential offensive additions on the way from the farm system, a team that desperately needs starting pitching (of which there is none in the farm system), will enter the season 62 millions dollars under the luxury tax. The team that has a media empire. The team that charges more for a ticket than any other in baseball. The team that let Mookie Betts leave ostensibly because they didn’t want to pay him (yeah, still angry about that too). Let me put this as plainly as I can: this team does not deserve a single dime of your money.
And I mean it. I don’t want to see any of you taking pictures at Fenway Park. Stay away. I often tell my students that, in this post-industrial-hyper-capitalist wasteland we call an economy, every dollar you spend is a vote for the world in which you want to live. It is a dwindling form of agency, but it is still a form of agency. Exercise that agency my friends, tell the Red Sox you will not live in a world in which they enter a season 62 million dollars under the cap. Tell them this by NOT GOING TO GAMES. Please.
What so frustrates me is that there were real additions out there that might not only help the team in 2024, but also in future seasons as top prospects like Ramon Anthony, Miguel Bleis, Kyle Teel, and (maybe) Marcelo Mayer reach the big leagues. I say maybe for Mayer because his 2023 season showed some contact issues that might be troublesome. I am not giving up on him yet, but he might need to retool his swing or become the next Jeter Downs. Regardless of Mayer’s future–let me not get distracted here–not complimenting this rising core, many of whom will arrive in 2024 or in 2025, with quality pitching this season is unforgivable. Especially when you are 62 million dollars under the luxury tax.
ZIPs projects this team to win 77 games next season. Another last place finish in a loaded AL East. I’m not sure if Blake Snell would be enough to get us out of the basement of the division. But Snell went for essentially 34 million for one year (he has a player option for a second season he will almost certainly waive). Snell isn’t necessarily a great pitcher, despite his two Cy Young awards. He tends to walk a lot of batters and his success largely rides on one killer pitch (thus, he might not age well). However, he is also only entering his age 31 season and is projected to be a 3 win player. As a baseball team, you get better by signing 3 win players. An 80 win team is 3 wins better than a 77 win team. We had plenty of luxury tax space to offer Snell a 4/120 million dollar deal.
There’s a lot of other pitchers we could have invested in this off-season. I will not go through all of them. There’s a handful of prospects and position players I find intriguing. But, honestly, my heart isn’t into writing about them this year. Not after the “full throttle” offseason that did little but choke my enthusiasm for this team. So I say again: do not give this team your money. They do not deserve it.
