Should Red Sox fans believe reports on ownership’s willingness to spend?
Seemingly every day now, another respected MLB insider reports that the Boston Red Sox are taking a more aggressive approach to the offseason this time around.
Most recently, Ken Rosenthal, senior MLB insider for The Athletic and a reporter for Fox’s baseball coverage, said on his Fair Territory podcast that Red Sox fans will not be disappointed by the team’s moves this winter.
“I think they’re actually serious this time, as opposed to last season’s ‘full throttle,’ which wasn’t a full throttle at all, about getting quality players, big-time free agents,” Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal also said he sees the Red Sox as being “very active” on both the trade and free agent fronts.
Still, wounded Sox fans are reasonably hesitant to accept these reports after similar-sounding reports last offseason.
Greg Hill, however, feels like buying in on these reports.
“OK, call me naive, call me a sucker, but I'm feeling it too. I feel like it's different this time,” Hill said Tuesday on The Greg Hill Show.
Chris Curtis was a little more skeptical of the reporting.
“Can I ask you a question, and I mean this sincerely, why don't they just do it? And then we say, ‘Wow, they have a different approach,’” Curtis said.
“Instead of telling Ken Rosenthal that they’re going to change, why don’t they just go sign people and then we can say ‘Wow, they changed,’” he continued.
Are the Sox more invested in improving their public PR standing than they are in improving the on-the-field product? If it was just one report, maybe. But the sheer volume of reports of the Red Sox being more interested in spending could lead you to believe it’s the truth.
“You’ve got [Jon] Heyman, you’ve got [ Rosenthal]. Like these are big, big baseball insiders that are just not burping stuff into the ether,” Jermaine Wiggins said.
Still, Curtis was unswayed, believing that all of the Red Sox’s public moves, including their reported meeting with Juan Soto, are just for the media.
“The Soto meeting was a charade,” Curtis said.
“The agents desperately need the Red Sox to be perceived as a threat because of the financial issues for many of the teams across Major League Baseball. If they don’t have the Red Sox as the sleeping giant then they may not be able to get as much money in free agency for their clients,” he continued.
Wiggy disagreed, saying that public machinations are not necessary if the Red Sox weren’t actually serious about Soto.
“I don’t think they need to put anything in the air for a guy like Soto. They didn’t do that last year. They weren’t in on Shohei [Ohtani],” Wiggy said.
The vivid details of certain reports, which stated that Soto was impressed by Boston’s free-agent pitch, lead Courtney Cox to believe the team’s reported interest is genuine.
“This year, it seems more legit, and I know that you're going to laugh at it, but to hear that Juan Soto was impressed by them, the three hours, like that's going to make them look worse if they don't seal the deal,” Cox said.
