The Sox have definitely been "in transition" the last 5-6 years after winning the 2018 World Series. Right now I believe they're at 19th in Payroll AFTER the Devers trade. Had Soto been signed, and they DID try with all their might to sign him IMHO, they would be much higher.
As I see it the Sox stand to be in high contention the latter half of this Decade (2026-30) and beyond.
Not giving Mookie the Contract the Dodgers did looks to be a definite error as of right now. But let's see how it ages as Mookie's OPS has been dropping with age.
Getting out from under Xander Bogaerts can ONLY be counted as a tremendous win for the Organization. Padres could be stuck with the worst Contract in Baseball on that one.
Once these 2 guys were jettisonned I was wholly against signing Devers, as I wanted the FULL "re-build" at that point. So I can't say I'm upset at losing Devers and just about EVERY esteemed Baseball writer ranked Devers Contract as "underwater," ie: not good.
With 4 Titles under our belt, patience is something we can afford, and we will be riding the backs of our maturing young talent combined with astute Free Agent signings (Kyle Tucker?) going forward.
Good times are a 'comin (IMHO)