The Boston Red Sox notably spent the majority of last offseason getting rejected in free agency, frequently finishing in second place when it came to acquiring new talent.
A huge part of the problem was former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's unwillingness to slightly overpay seemingly due to fear of losing a negotiation.
Another reoccurring factor was location. Many of the players the Red Sox were outbid for decided to play for their hometowns, including one hurler who currently is chasing a World Series Championship: Texas Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney.
The 32-year-old spoke on the matter with WEEI's Rob Bradford prior to Game 3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"I met with a lot of teams, did a lot of Zoom, FaceTime, type things," Heaney told Bradford while appearing on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast. "I met with one of their (Boston's) medical staff guys. It was close. I think at the end of the day -- many of us would be happy to play for (any team in Major League Baseball).
"There's certain things that make it a bit easier. For me, this is pretty much my hometown team. (It's) somewhere I wanted to play, wanted to be at, here in Texas."
To make a long answer short, Heaney was likely offered similar contracts and elected to play close to home -- he's from Oklahoma City, a three-hour drive from Arlington.
The southpaw posted a 4.15 ERA with a 151-to-60-strikeout-to-walk ratio, .251 batting average against and 1.38 WHIP in 147 1/3 innings this season.
The Red Sox certainly could have used that production but likely would have had to pay extra to convince Heaney to pick Boston over Texas.
Heaney signed a one-year, $12 million contract that includes a $13 million player option for 2025. It would not have been difficult to top that offer.
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