Think of me as John Henry so I can tell you that spending big--in dollars or prospects--on pitchers is stupid. Right now the Sox rotation--Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock (on the IL, maybe for the season), Houck, and now Criswell--is the primary reason why the Sox team ERA, 2.95, is just a tad behind the Yankees 2.92 for the best team ERA in MLB.
And the Sox are paying those six starters a total of $15M this season, $1M less than Kenley Jansen, the closer who these days basically gets by with one pitch, a cutter. Last night he threw 11 pitches, including 10 cutters and 1 slider--and he got the save (with no runs scored), but the Rays hit the ball hard.