You said fan perception. I said -- here, I'll quote my first post, with the bold-faced sentence still bold-faced:
"The Red Sox have to change the perception in the industry that ownership will no longer pay market value for top free agent talent."
And in '21, I didn't care what the Red Sox payroll was, and I still don't care in '24, because payrolls always include paying or owing money to players who were signed years before, were dumped and subsidized to wear another uni, or were cut because injuries prevented them from contributing.
All that matters each offseason is how a front office uses resources to improve a club for the next season. You know it, I know it, and Raffy knows we know it (but can't say it out loud).