Twitter isn’t real life, and trying to glean any insight from social media discourse is usually pointless.
But it can be a useful way to take the temperature of a fanbase, and this offseason I’ve noticed a trend that should concern the Red Sox more than it probably does.
A case could be made that the Red Sox pulled off one of the biggest moves of the offseason by acquiring Garrett Crochet. The 25-year-old ace is one of the most talented young arms in baseball and could plausibly contend for a Cy Young Award this season, and the Red Sox got him without having to give up either Roman Anthony or Kristian Campbell, both now regarded as consensus top-10 prospects.
That’s a huge deal, the kind of blockbuster fans have been craving the Red Sox to make for years. Yet there’s a vocal portion of the fanbase that’s essentially dismissed the trade as nothing.
I can understand where that sentiment comes from. After promising urgency this offseason and repeatedly highlighting the importance of adding a right-handed bat, the Red Sox have done nothing to bolster the lineup and have essentially sat on their hands since mid-December. Fans are rightfully frustrated and the club has long lost the benefit of the doubt after the way these past five years have played out.
Even if the notion that acquiring Crochet somehow “doesn’t count” is ridiculous, it speaks to just how deep the lack of trust in this franchise has become.
As of this writing, the Red Sox payroll for 2025 is set to be approximately $216.4 million, which is less than last year’s total of $226.1 million, according to @RedSoxPayroll. The club is also about $25 million under the first luxury tax threshold. There’s no good reason why the Red Sox should carry a smaller payroll than last year, and at minimum the club should be willing to approach the first threshold.
The problem is that outside of Alex Bregman there aren’t many unsigned players remaining who would appreciably move the needle. So even if the Red Sox wind up signing some less heralded players to fill out their lineup and bullpen, and even if they approach the luxury tax threshold in the process, the Red Sox still may not get much credit from the rank and file.
Fortunately there’s another path the Red Sox can follow even if they don’t land any big outside free agents.
After going back and forth with a few fans on Twitter, one common refrain I heard about Crochet was that the trade won’t be worth it unless the Red Sox also extend him. As of now Crochet has two years of team control remaining before he hits free agency, and the thinking is that unless the club can keep him in Boston for the long-haul then giving up Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery will have been too high a price to pay.
I don’t fully agree with that, but it’s a reasonable take. The good news is both sides have a strong incentive to reach a long-term agreement, and Crochet acknowledged that his representatives and the Red Sox have held contract discussions when he spoke at Fenway Fest.
Should a deal materialize it would almost certainly be at least a five-year deal worth north of nine figures, exactly the kind of financial commitment Red Sox fans have been waiting for. It would also push the Red Sox payroll up to and perhaps past the first luxury tax threshold, a key benchmark suggesting the Red Sox actually are acting with the level of urgency they claim.
At the end of the day, that’s all fans really want. After so many years of middling action leading to middling results, fans have clearly had enough and won’t be willing to give the Red Sox any credit until they prove they deserve it.
Even if both sides have an incentive to strike a deal and logic suggests they ultimately will, many fans simply won’t believe it until it happens. They’ve been burned too many times, so if the Red Sox want to restore that trust and belief, they need to do two things. First, put their money where their mouth is, and then follow that by doing the rest of their talking on the field.