I give Ben a free pass for 2012 as well. I don't fault him that much for 2014 either. It was 2015 when I really questioned his acumen, especially with the pitching staff he rolled out there.
So Ben had a different philosophy from Theo, since Theo signed Lester?
Let's face it, Kimmi, we don't really know what Ben's philosophy was or is. It's all speculation.
I don't know what you mean about Lester. Ben was the GM when they failed to sign him to an extension. Ben was the GM when they failed to sign him as a free agent. How would Ben, or the Sox FO, not be held accountable for what he's been doing since then?
I disagree that Ben was handed a s*** team.
But I'm about 99.9 per cent sure it was Lucchino that hired Valentine, and that move, along with the residual sourness from 2011, ensured that 2012 would be a disaster.
Many fans will say that, sure.
But Belichick has been questioned pretty sharply about some things as well, the most recent being the benching of Butler in the Super Bowl.
No one gets a free pass.
Results-wise, Ben's run as GM was totally bizarre. A world championship-fantastic. A 93-loss season and a 91-loss season (the most losses for a Red Sox team since 1965)-horrific.
I would have to think that holding out until June looks like a horrible option to most players. You're looking at missing about half the season. That's a sizable chunk of your career. And falling behind that far in live action time could screw up your whole season.
I guess it's safe to say not even Theo saw this bargain basement situation developing. Otherwise he probably wouldn't have signed Chatwood for 3 years/38 million. He might have been able to re-sign Arrieta for that kind of money now.
It is a crazy situation. I was just reading Peter Abraham's piece about Castillo in the Globe.
Castillo's only hope of getting to the big leagues is to absolutely light it up in AAA to the point that other teams are convinced he's a real MLB player, maybe even a potential star. But even then his price tag (3 years, 35.5 million remaining) is a little hefty by this offseason's standards. For a trade partner you would probably need a team in contention with a desperate need for an outfielder.