The risks with free agency are just much greater. At least for the top tier players. And the risks are in the years.
The whole premise of this thread shows this. Not one person has selected more than 4 years.
And the big issue is a lot of people are looking at the Eovaldi Glass and saying “it’s been half full lately.” Even the normally sardonic 5Gold tried to paint the rosiest picture possible of Eovaldi, calling him the Sox best pitcher of the last 3years. Sure, if you like thinking 2020 is some sort of equal representative. And if you assume he finishes 2021 still holding that title.
The reality is, it was a way to try desperately to not make 2021 look like an outlier. The problem is, that’s exactly what it was. 5.6 fWAR season for a 31yo pitcher who never topped 3.3 fWAR before (and that was from 8 years ago).
It would be very unwise for the Sox to even go to 4 years with Eovaldi, let alone 4 or 5. And to say “there’s no one else” is just a justification, not a reason…