3 Red Sox under the microscope after whiffing on Juan Soto: Devers spotlight

The Boston Red Sox whiffed on Juan Soto, as most outside of Beantown expected by the weekend, making a final reported offer of $700 million. Soto would sign with the Mets for $765 million, a contract which could be worth more than $800 million in its entirety.

It's tough to blame the Red Sox here. They stretched their budget and resources thin to sign Soto, even asking franchise legend David Ortiz to make his pitch. They dove into analytics, showing Soto how he'd thrive as a left-handed hitter at Fenway Park. It didn't matter.

As historic of a franchise as the Red Sox are, they missed the postseason in 2024. The Yankees made a pennant run with Soto, and the Mets were two games away from winning the NLCS over the eventual World Series champion Dodgers without him. Both teams made higher offers than Boston.

The Red Sox showed up they are willing to spend. What comes next will ultimately decide whether this was a successful offseason.

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3. Craig Breslow did his best, but the Red Sox front office fell short

For the record, under the microscope does not infer on the hot seat. Breslow has done a fine job rebuilding the Sox farm system while keeping the on-field product reasonably competitive. With many of those young players starting to reach the majors, the time is now to build around them. Making that pitch to owner John Henry – the man who has to fork over $700 million for Soto, in this case – is a greater challenge than meeting with Scott Boras or the player himself. Breslow successfully achieved that.

With the Red Sox willing to spend now more than ever before, all eyes will be on what Breslow does next. Boston has been connected to Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Teoscar Hernandez, among others. Red Sox fans are tired of being the bridesmaid.

Sure, they can deal with missing on Soto – again, that was always a longshot despite what some in the media suggest – but they cannot whiff on the entire top-tier of this talented free-agent class.

2. John Henry committed to spending on Juan Soto. Will he do the same for other Red Sox targets?

Red Sox fans have been begging John Henry and Fenway Sports Group to spend this kind of money for years. Instead, FSG has bought other franchise like Liverpool and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Finally, Henry and Co. seem committed to adding to the Red Sox roster in a big way. With Rafael Devers signed long-term to a contract that gets more team-friendly by the day thanks to Soto and others, it's Boston's turn to build around him so that Fenway Park can host playoff games again.

The American League is the path of least resistance. With the Dodgers and Mets battling it out in the NL, teams like the Red Sox and Yankees should beef up their rosters in hopes of avoiding both of those teams until the World Series. In that sense, Soto's choice was a bit odd, but money talks.

In a way, Henry did the Red Sox in. One look at the roster showcases a lot of young talent, but it cannot compare with the likes of the Yankees and Mets in terms of recent success. Henry could have rectified that had he acted earlier and spent this big in 2022 and 2023, but he did not.

1. Rafael Devers was fine playing second fiddle. He remains the Red Sox true star

Rafael Devers is not a vocal superstar. If anything, he would've been fine playing second fiddle to Juan Soto – the robin to the 26-year-old Soto's batman, if you will. Devers is an elite hitter in his own right and a perennial AL MVP candidate. This is in no way knocking his own ability, and Devers was surely involved in the Red Sox recruiting efforts to some extent.

Can Boston win another World Series with Devers as the unquestioned, best player on their roster? That's a legitimate question we cannot answer as of this writing. It's up to Henry and Breslow to build around their best player, who is a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger. Devers won a World Series weith the 2018 Red Sox, so he has a taste of winning already. However, that team including Mookie Betts, who had an incredible 10.7 WAR in 2018.

Boston's next playoff team will look different, with Devers leading the way. As much as he stays out of the spotlight at Fenway, he'll have to be the centerpiece the Red Sox need him to be moving forward.