We were at the top in spending in 2018 and 2019, and we had several big stars coming up on their big paydays. Our farm appeared more empty than it turned out to be, but the years going forward was going to cost a lot more than an already league leading point.
Many of us felt a downturn was coming. I don't think anyone felt it would be so sudden and steep. JH's near complete divestment, which started slowly in 2019, when we let Kimbrell and Kelly go without replacing them in even half-kind. The rumor that DD nearly traded Betts in 2019 is more evidence that the budget cuts were coming, and comin sooner rather than later.
Surely, it's easy to sit back and say, "JH can afford to spend more and should have done it," and that is totally true, but can't just about every fan of a cost limited team say the same? Maybe some owners aren't as rich as JH, and their revenue streams are smaller, but all owners are rich enough to spend significantly more, if they wanted to do it. In that context, why do we "deserve" it more?
If anything, we could claim we were extremely lucky to have an owner that did fork over hundreds of millions of dollars that could have lined his pockets to bring us 4 rings. I've shown that JH has not really cut spending as much as him being passed by several owners going nutty with spending. I'm not sure how fair it is to think he should have gotten that "nutty," too.
Now, spending up to the tax line should be easy for him, and I agree that there is no excuse for not doing, at least that, but I'm eternally grateful to JH for doing what he did. There were many times, in my life, I fully believed I'd never see the promise land. I've seen it 4 times. I don't really feel entitled to 5.