I'm pissed as all hell about the Betts boot and more. There was a long stretch where JH was being stingy, and it sucked.
I get the fact that casual fans might not know or care about the budget, but I'm speaking to those who keep saying over and over that JH is not spending. If you don't know, don't say it, and if you do know, you are not being genuine.
The budget cuts led to a deep decline in our roster value. Luckily, our farm improved and we started seeing some infusion, even from DD prospects. Bloom failed in many ways, but he did a slow rebuild of the roster depth and farm, while leaving out any major star additions (that worked.) Brez took over and was allowed to spend more. Maybe he was restricted from large and long deals, which limited his choices a bit.
In an overall sense, I think when you look at the totality of Brez's moves, he's made more good than neutral or bad, and of course most are still TBD, but it just hasn't been enough to get us to a high level of competitiveness. He's made some major mistakes, but it's hard for me personally, to be critical, since I liked the Sale trade and did not want to sign Bregman at even the first offer amount or our final offer.
Anyway, JH is spending more. I wish he'd spend more, and I wish our GMs would spend it more wisely, especially on these short deals like Buehler $21M/1, Sandoval $18M/2, Kluber & Richards $10M/1 and Paxton & Hendriks $10M/2.