Those teams would have looked much more competitive in the modern division alignment/wild card scenarios. They were never terrible. They were typically an above average team that wasn't good enough to be in the upper echelon.
Bigger salaries have NO impact on MiLB salaries. They also aren't the reason that MiLB leagues are folding. They are folding because they are trying to get rid of the anachronistic ownership structure in MiLB and so that all teams fall under the MLB ownership umbrella at some point.
It would be foolish to move Houck down for service time. I don't think he's good enough to get priced out of Boston. He's most likely still a late inning reliever. Keep him up as long as he's productive.
RF is hard because it's huge. Plus, you can misplay a ball down the line and it's a guaranteed little league home run.
And sometimes the short wall just swallows you whole.
I think Wakefield's loss was a foregone conclusion at that point. It was bound to happen and not his fault.
I remember watching that wild pitch. I don't remember the ball going between Buckner's legs. I was probably shellshocked at that point.