Agreed, and many of the most beloved Sox players of the past 2 decades were obtained by trade or free agency: Pedro, Manny, Papi, Schilling (not so much now,) Lowell, VTek, JD and Sale.
I loved those teams of the mid to late 70's more than any others. Of course, I was a kid/teen, at the time, but they were fun to watch. When that team was torn apart, mercilessly, it was a giant gut punch