Giancarlo Stanton. So many on this board were begging for years for the Sox to go after him and give him a huge extension.It's pretty common for the Sox not to get a player many or even most of us want them to get. Most of those situations have turned out OK. Exhibit A is ARod. Exhibit B is Ellsbury.
Personally I can't say that I have a strong take on what the Sox should or shouldn't do. I'm skeptical of giving up prospects for any rental given how much of a diceroll the post-season is. There are a lot of stacked teams out there. How much does adding a big name rental really move the needle on the odds of a championship?
I'm deeply skeptical of acquiring star players via free agency given the length of contract that they tend to command, so it seems to me that the best ways of building a contending team are to have a core of homegrown talent to build around or acquiring cost-controlled talent via trade. Given that any prospect is a chance to provide value for 6 seasons it seems difficult to make the math work when comparing to a half season of impact.