As many questions as the Sox have in their rotation, I think you will find the rest of the AL has numerous teams in the same boat.
If we look at last years 6 post-season participants (Baltimore, Tampa, Minnesota, Houston, Texas, and Toronto) how many are worse than the team that ended the season? And what teams in the AL did enough to supplant any of them? (Maybe NY?)
Yes, the Yanks improved their offense, getting Soto and Verdugo. But they lost five starting pitchers from the rotation: Cole, German, Severino, King, Brito... and replaced them with Marcus Stroman?
Yankee fans know better than to count on full seasons of health from Rodon and Cortes, and nobody can reasonably expect Cole to return to Cy Young status after merely resting a bum elbow...
I must be missing something with the annual World Series favorites that never play in the World Series.
The Yankees are far from locks, and while Severino-German-Brito did combine for 50 starts and 289 IP, these were not mainstays in that rotation. They will need Fluke Health from Rodon and Cortes and a solid return from Cole. But if the Judge-Soto-Stanton lineup doesn’t position that 82 win team as one of the most likely to displace a playoff team, then who positioned themselves better? Maybe Seattle, who, like Boston, will rely on a lot of younger pitchers in their first full season? Surprise spender KC? They’ll be improved, but is Wacha and Lugo enough?
"Fans have become more entitled than anything. So they're starting to question our motives for the game, or how we approach the game. The ones that do question -- like who are you? Just shut up and watch the game tonight." --Kevin Durant on players' lack of effort in regular season games.