Not being able to re-sign Mookie was a big turning point to me and my Red Sox fandom.
They definitely lowballed Lester, but I felt like they should have signed Max they offseason Lester was a FA anyway. Instead, they waited a year and signed Price.
I agree that Sale needed a new place. There's no guarantee that Sale would have been as effective in BOS and they wouldn't have given him an extra day of rest in 2024 the way ATL did.
Garcia may be my favorite prospect right now, but I'm also more aware of some of his flaws than some other posters. I think he could be similar to Abreu (overall production/ceiling wise, not approach wise). I don't see him becoming a "big 3" type prospect, but a guy that could be very useful in MLB at some point. Him and his brother were a big reason I watched a lot of Salem games early on this spring.
I believe they are high on driveline driven stats like exit velo, but it depends on the player. The one thing I heard is that they give each player specific goals. For example, Kristian Campbell hadn't tapped into power but was already a decent contact hitter who made good swing decisions. They wanted him to unleash some of that power potential. It worked out. For other guys, it may be working on those swing decisions because swinging at the wrong pitches is causing them to make weak contact or no contact at all.
I believe the AFL tends to be very hitter friendly being held down in AZ. Brannon has always had a lot of power, but didn't really show it this year. His catching is still a big time work in progress and injuries have held him back the past two seasons. He's still young though.