The Boston Red Sox faithful and media alike expected big things this offseason following back-to-back last-place finishes in the American League East combined with a myriad of personnel changes from the leadership group.
That narrative was driven from the ownership through baseball operations, including new Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow -- who boasted about Boston's rich resources and willingness to be bold during his introductory press conference.
Since then, it's been all downhill. The talk shifted from a "full throttle" offseason to not wanting to compromise future wins for current wins and a budget that continues to decrease for reasons unknown.
Breslow admitted that the winter has not gone as planned during a spring training press conference.
“We can appreciate that things haven’t come together in maybe a way that I anticipated," Breslow told reporters on Tuesday. "But, nonetheless it's not going to stop us from trying to pursue that vision of building this standard of quality and consistency I have spoken about."
Much like his predecessor, many of Breslow's additions have come with nearly equal subtractions. He added Tyler O'Neill to the outfield but traded away Alex Verdugo. He then swapped out Chris Sale for Lucas Giolito in the rotation.
Those moves did come with additional bullpen depth as well as second baseman Vaughn Grissom but the roster on the whole is arguably worse than last season after losing designated hitter Justin Turner, outfielder Adam Duvall, left-hander James Paxton and some ancillary pieces.
A move for left-hander Jordan Montgomery could salvage the offseason to some degree but is not nearly enough to get the team into contention. Even then, many speculate that signing Montgomery could force Breslow into trading closer Kenley Jansen.
The Red Sox brass continue to focus on the future and fail to realize that their lack of willingness to invest in the current club is preventing them from getting any closer to their aspirations of a perennial contender.
Holding prospects close to the vest is fine but they need to spend in order to climb into a window of contention. Until the team realizes they need to spend some money, they won't go anywhere.
More must-reads: