Red Sox's contract spree is nothing more than damage control to keep up with Yankees

We already know what the response will be from Boston Red Sox fans reading this. "So you're telling us Carlos Rodón is better than Garrett Crochet? You'd rather have Rodón over Crochet?!" And, as a New York Yankees fan, that'd be understandable. But that's not what we're saying.

And even if we were, there's a big difference here. Rodón had two Cy Young-caliber seasons right before New York made the decision to pay hm $162 million over six years. Will the deal continue to blow up in their face? It's absolutely possible. But Rodón has four more years to course correct and return to ace-like form.

As for Crochet, his lone year as a starter in 2024 was extremely good but ... it was his only year as a starter. In the end, the Red Sox made an aggressive move to sign him to an extension (six years, $170 million) this week. They got their guy. For some, that's all that matters. Can't fault that approach.

But they just paid someone an historic amount of money after just 33 career starts. Given Crochet's age and current trajectory, it could certainly turn out to be a shrewd move. But based on how the Red Sox have operated ever since their 2018 World Series victory, their decisions have either come off as "questionable" or "desperate."

Meanwhile their fans are right along for the ride, hardly opposing despite seeing little-to-no results. They're still getting excited about new beginnings and the farm system their previously tar-and-feathered GM Chaim Bloom built. For years, the Red Sox refused to spend big in free agency, or spend in general. Now they're dishing out contracts left and right to guys with limited-to-no MLB experience.

Red Sox clearly trying to match Yankees with desperate contract extensions

Top prospect Kristian Campbell became the latest on Wednesday. He signed an eight-year, $60 million contract after four MLB games. Both Ceddanne Rafaela and Brayan Bello got similar treatment last year. Crochet got his bag after one start in Boston. Alex Bregman got $40 million a year despite the Sox already rostering one of the best third basemen in the game (regardless of what you think about his defense).

It just reeks of the directionless organization attempting to keep pace with the division-rival Yankees, who, yes have failed spectacularly in so many different ways over the last 15 years, but have not experienced bottoming out as often as the Red Sox do. Again, Boston fans will argue that it's better to eat dirt for 3-6 years and then randomly stumble into a magical World Series run, but that's not a sustainable model. That is luck combined with the baseball gods trying to make up for their previously heinous 86-year treatment of the franchise.

The Yankees' model is imperfect. We complain about it all the time. But it at least results in winning and consistency. Fans would love them to go over the top with some moves to further declare their dominance, but the Yankees are almost always contending or involved in the conversation. And they very rarely jump the gun rather irresponsibly to right previous wrongs — which is what it seems like the Red Sox are doing right now.

In the situation with Crochet, the Sox, who tried to land Max Fried before trading for him, sent four top prospects to the White Sox and had to justify the deal by extending him, or else it would've appeared careless to part with that much young talent for two years of a starter surrounded by a fringe Wild Card roster. Boston fans were restless about the lack of spending, so the front office made some micro-deals with homegrown players to shut everybody up.

Will it work? Remains to be seen. But it's all over the place, and it's difficult to identify a "plan" here. Nonetheless, we'd love nothing more than to watch Red Sox fans to drink the Kool-Aid on the road to absolutely nowhere.