Oh I get what you're saying. But he did backpedal immediately, too. And Werner insisted that they don't have a fixed budget number this past weekend.
It's all part of the circus of confusion.
If you win 85 games and finish last you might have a case. If you win 78 games the last place arguments all become academic. As Dipre would say, you're bad and you should feel bad.
The 2023 team fell apart mainly because of the weak starting rotation and the growing taxation of bullpen arms.
The offense faded hard too because of injuries and Yoshida's tailoff. That might have been addressed at the deadline a bit if the team was really trying to contend.
It was a team that could have been pretty good if they had signed a good starting pitcher instead of Kluber, and then followed up with an acquisition or two at the deadline.
No matter what arguments they're now putting out about playin' the kids, it's impossible for them to cover up the fact that a payroll that low is strictly in the interests of ownership.
It's gonna be a stunner if they don't spend much more this year. They'll be 30 million or so below the first tax threshold. How the f*** they think fans and media won't go apeshit about that is beyond me.
Werner must have forgotten about all the empty seats at Fenway for that meaningless Yankee Series in September-right before they fired Bloom.
Dude has a really short memory all of a sudden.