"Greatness"? To me that's an irrelevant term. A team that could make the playoffs and maybe get past the first round? Yes, I think a lot of people thought or hoped that much.
What does "greatness" mean anymore when the last team to repeat was the 2000 Yanks?
A lot of our 2018 core was still in place - Sale, E-Rod, Eovaldi, Bogey, Devers, JDM, Vazquez, Cora.
My take is that virtually all teams are in constant flux now because of all the payroll issues etc.
Mookie being traded was a shock, but it was actually the culmination of several years of uneasiness about his future with the team. The longer it went with no resolution, the more it seemed headed for a bad outcome for fans.
And after 2018 the team basically told fans they'd like to keep Betts, Bogaerts and Sale, but it wasn't realistic.
Expectations for 2021 were uncertain, not necessarily low.
I think notin's answer to all this was about right: the Red Sox have been rebuilding, just not at the MLB level…
It was our farm that needed to be rebuilt.
The Red Sox franchise has been on a wild roller coaster ride since about 2009.
Singling out 2020 as the "cliff year" makes no sense. It was just one of the dips in the ride.
Of course 2020 was a cluster F. No Sale, no E-Rod, no Cora, and a pandemic-shortened season. It was a perfect year to not try very hard. We got a sweet draft pick out of it.
One bad 60 game season is not a cliff, no matter how many times you say it.
Rebuilding is pretty much an ongoing, necessary process now anyway. Teams don't stay the same for long.
2019 - among pre-season favorites to win it all
2020 - brutal 60 games
2021 - 6th game of ALCS
That's what you're calling the "C" word and the "rebuild".