Why are you saying this, because they cut back on spending for two seasons--dropping all the way down to sixth in baseball and thirteenth in baseball while doing so--during which they took one of the worst minor league systems in baseball and built it into one of the better ones?
I'm not as good with these things as others around here, but according to
this accounting:
In 2021 they had the third-highest payroll in baseball.
In 2020 it was also the third highest.
In the 20 seasons since the 2004 season, the Sox have had a top-three payroll 14 times and a top-four payroll four times.
They have had the top payroll a number of times, including as recently as 2019.
The only two seasons since 2004 when they weren't in the top four in baseball--2022 and 2023--were obvious outliers that coincided with a strategic rebuild.
The Sox have famously announced that they are going "full throttle" this off-season and plan to spend, spend, spend.