Well. This is interesting. What is a justified cost for a championship? That is the question.
Of course, if you are in a decades long drought then the willingness to pay an arm and leg makes a great deal of sense. I know as a fan, pre-2004, I wanted the Red Sox to do ANYTHING in the short term if a championship was in reach. After a few recent WS under their belt? Well, I think, then, the orientation changes to building an organization that can SUSTAIN success year in and year out, subsequently balancing present and future needs.
I think many folks on this site had some raised eyebrows at DD's approach building toward the 2018 championship (and his subsequent moves in the 2018-19 off season). He just DECIMATED the farm, and overextended salary resources. Which, again, I would have appreciated in 2003. But in 2018? I dunno. I think we all saw what the aftermath of his short term thinking strategy might have been (see: Detroit Tigers). Thankfully, the manic-depressive Sox ownership saw the error of their ways and hired Chaim Bloom, who has a much more balanced and intelligent approach than Dombrowski.
Would you trade the 2018 WS for Moncada, Kopech, Benintendi and Betts being on the team right now ...? I'm not saying I would or the answer is obvious. But that's my point ... maybe the answer, after WS victories in 2004, 2007, and 2013 isn't obvious.
Vazquez, Dalbec, Moncada, Bogaerts, Devers, Benintendi, Duran, Betts .... could have an entire diamond of homegrown players, and the best line up in baseball ...
I know hindsight is 20/20 ... just having some fun in imagining alternate realities ....