The Six-Year Failure of the Red Sox: How Boston Built the Team It Has Today.

There is no single transaction that explains how the Boston Red Sox got here.

It wasn’t one bad free-agent signing.

It wasn’t one bad trade.

It wasn’t Chaim Bloom alone. It isn’t Craig Breslow alone. And despite being the guy Boston eventually showed the door, it certainly wasn’t all Dave Dombrowski.

This has been building for six years.

And when you start putting the decisions next to each other, a pattern emerges.

The Red Sox haven’t necessarily refused to spend money.

They’ve spent an extraordinary amount of money trying to avoid spending big money on premium talent.

Since 2019, Boston has committed approximately $128.5 million to what I would broadly classify as reclamation projects: injured players, pitchers returning from major surgery, aging veterans and players whose acquisition was essentially a wager that Boston could restore them to something resembling their former selves.

Here’s the list:

Lucas Giolito — $38.5 million

Walker Buehler — $21.05 million

Patrick Sandoval — $18.25 million

James Paxton — $10 million

Corey Kluber — $10 million

Liam Hendriks — $10 million

Garrett Richards — $10 million

Adalberto Mondesí — $3.045 million

Marwin González — $3 million

Matt Andriese — $2.1 million

Joely Rodríguez — $2 million

Collin McHugh — $600,000

Total: $128.545 million.

Not every one of those transactions was indefensible when it happened. That’s important.

Baseball teams should make calculated bets. Sometimes they work spectacularly.

But eventually, when you make enough of these bets, you have to examine the organizational philosophy behind them.

Giolito was a $38.5 million bet on restoring a starter who had struggled badly down the stretch before coming to Boston. Walker Buehler received $21.05 million as he attempted to rediscover the pitcher he had been before two Tommy John surgeries. Patrick Sandoval received $18.25 million while Boston knew he was recovering…