Red Sox troll who claimed Juan Soto deal was done on Thanksgiving deserves heat

Once upon a time, the Boston Red Sox were a distant afterthought in the Juan Soto chase. Ultimately, when Soto signed with the Mets and spurned the Yankees on Sunday night, it was revealed that they ... were a distant afterthought in the Juan Soto chase, underbidding Steve Cohen by $100 million and never inching upwards when the Yankees (futilely) did on Sunday evening.

According to Andy Martino, the Yankees feared the Sox more than the Mets heading down the home stretch. That's likely true. But the Mets' financial might was always looming and, in the end, extinguished the Yankees at a closer proximity than the Red Sox. They were a sleeping giant.

Of course, part of the reason they feared Boston so strongly was the rebuke of the fanbase if they lost a bidding war -- and that's always what this was destined to be -- to a Red Sox team that hadn't spent a cent post-Mookie Betts. Some of that fear was guttural and emotional. It's ingrained in every Yankee: do not lose to these guys. Do not further the long process of becoming a comparative joke that's been happening since 2004.

Some of that fear, though, was a direct result of an internet storm crafted by a radio producer who went by @BeyondAvgMick. Without Mick leading Bostonians around like the pied piper -- spilling secrets, getting "community noted," then spilling more secrets to reset his Twitter paycheck -- the emotional tide may never have turned in Boston's favor on Thanksgiving weekend. It's no exaggeration to say that the proliferation of phony rumors that started a whole bunch of unnecessary Red Sox-themed braggadocio came from one man. That man? Was just messing with you.

Red Sox fan who trolled all of Boston should feel worse than Yankees fans after Juan Soto chase

There is no way I buy that this man "feels terrible" for the people he let down by playing a game to see exactly how much engagement he could bait by telling hungry fans stuck in a delusion wave exactly what they wanted to hear.

You know why I don't buy that? He bragged about manipulating audiences at the "drop of a hat" back in September, then retweeted it Sunday night when the Soto news dropped. It was a joke to him. His followers were a joke to him. Cultivating an angry mob was all part of the experiment. The basis of it, actually. He looked down upon Boston fans' character and media literacy and, ultimately, earned a grouping of dupes before people caught on.

And, yes, all along, he was on the warpath calling other popular podcasters/writers "zeroes" and questioning Jeff Passan's credibility. When he received pushback, he responded with aggression and name-calling. It's the modern playbook.

He was confidently wrong. He was more than likely lying. He believed he could sell falsehoods and escape. And now, he appears to still have nearly as many defenders as detractors, despite Soto suiting up in the Big Apple. That's part of the playbook, too. Criticize the "mainstream media" and their attempts to discredit you. Get discredited by reality. Keep your grievance at the forefront anyway.

Was Mick truly fed bad info, or was he building an army of believers, only to lead them off a cliff as a prank? The latter seems more likely to me. Even with access to the benefit of the doubt, though, the cocky self-assuredness is what I'll remember most.

And if the enthusiasm surge "struck fear" into the Yankees' hearts, at least Mick and Co. were left equally cold in the end. They created something worthless, which is now their legacy.