I was devastated to lose Mookie. Almost equally devastated to lose Xander, but more than devasted, I was angry that they didn't extend him last spring. When Mookie was traded, it was told to the fan base that this wasn't popular, they hated losing Mookie, but this was what was necessary in order to have payroll flexibility to resign our other young stars. Well...that didn't happen.
Now, instead, we get mixed messages about the direction. We trade Vazquez, but don't trade other guys at the deadline so we don't get under the tax threshold. As a result, we don't get as much in return for losing Bogaerts. Now, this offseason, we say Bogaerts is our top priority, we "act" like we want to spend money but most of what we spent is on someone who hasn't played MLB and many scouts and "experts" think we overpayed. We aren't rebuilding, but are we really competing? We have holes in the OF, a gaping hole at SS, no top of the rotation guys, most of the rotation is either injury prone or young guys who will be on an innings limit. Now there are rumors on Swanson. So, we won't block Mayer by extending Bogaerts, but we might block Mayer by signing Swanson? Yeah, that will go over well with fans. And Swanson will forever be known as the guy who got Xander's money? (and I'm not talking Xander in SD money...I'm talking about the money we should have offered him last spring when he made it clear he wanted to be here long term) Not saying we are going to get Swanson because we seem to be "interested" in everyone but not really serious about anyone, but if we do, how will he do in Boston if he is boooed everytime he has a slump because he's not Xander?
What exactly is the plan?