Schwarber got a lot less money than Story though, they easily could have signed both; and say, passed on Bradley and Paxton. Story is certainly a better player than he’s shown, but the numbers way from Fenway and against power pitchers seem a little concerning, although it’s a small sample.
Again, there's a totally separate conversation to be had (I.e. yelled about at length) about how much the Sox
should spend and the true impact of the luxury tax, etc.
But Schwarber and Story got roughly identical money at least for the next 4 seasons: they're both making ~$20M/season for 2022-2025. The difference of course is the Sox gave Story two more years for '26 and '27 at $25M and then a team option for a 3rd year, but that doesn't really impact the luxury tax / team payroll considerations for this season and next.
As for JBJ and Paxton, I think as a team philosophy they wanted to trade away Renfroe to get two prospects and defensive RF help and sign a collection of lower cost starting pitchers to fill out the back of the rotation in Wacha, Hill, and Paxton. Personally I wish instead of Hill and Paxton (1 year, total of $15M) they had gone after Carlos Rodon (2 years, $22M/year), but they don't ask me!
Again, we can disagree about whether the Sox
should have been willing to spend more this offseason, but in reality it seemed like they were willing to spend ~$20M on one hitter, whether it be Schwarber, Story, Suzuki, etc.
Edit: And I should add I'm not just criticizing the Red Sox front office, there's absolutely a method to their madness to scatter your resources. Take the "bargain bin" approach to the back end of the rotation. Even the well run organizations made multi-year, substantial commitments this offseason that (to wildly jump to conclusions halfway into their 1st season) seem iffy: the Cards and Matz, the Giants and DeSclafani and Cobb, the Blue Jays and Kikuchi, etc. Whereas many real bargains are producing a lot of value on 1 year short money deals: old friend Martin Perez is having a career year in Texas, plus Kluber, Wacha, Hill, and even Chris Archer are delivering value.