Are the Red Sox really going ‘full throttle’ this offseason?

With the hiring of new Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow on Oct. 25, many Boston Red Sox fans were hoping it meant the team would be building a contender this offseason, but it seems as though it is just the opposite. 

While the Sox have been linked to several free agents this winter, they have only made a handful of transactions so far – the most notable being the signing of starting pitcher Lucas Giolito. 

Breslow has also traded away outfielder Alex Verdugo (Yankees) and veteran starting pitcher Chris Sale (Braves).

Many fans are disappointed in the club’s seemingly uneventful offseason after hearing chairman Tom Werner claim the team would be going “full throttle.”

“We know that we have to be competitive next year,” Werner told MassLive reporter Sean McAdam at Breslow’s introductory news conference in November. “So we’re going to be competitive next year. We’re going to have to be full-throttle in every possible way.”

On Jan. 17, Werner clarified his “full throttle” comments in a phone interview with McAdam. 

“Maybe that wasn’t the most artful way of saying what I wanted to say, which is that we’re going to be pressing all levers to improve the team,” Werner told McAdam, “In the end, nobody’s happy with our performance the last few years. Some years, we go after somebody who is about to be a free agent, or was a free agent, as it pertains to Trevor Story or Raffy Devers.”

Boston has missed out on various free agents this offseason, including Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, and 2023 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani. All three landed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.