Me too.
Cherington's "rebuilding" strategy involved the Great Reset Button trade, which then only took slightly over 13 months to lead to a title. He also didn't deal Lester and Lackey for prospects and instead focused on Major Leaguers. That's not building a sustainable farm. He did sign a lot of free agents, including Uehara, Napoli, Drew, Victorino, Dempster, Sandoval, Hanley, etc.
Dombrowski's method of garnering stability was to sign Verlander and Cabrera to such cumbersome deals, the Tigers are actually trying to work in a rebuilding period right now...
Whatever you want to call BC's plan, I am certain those above him signed onto it.
I called it a 5 year plan, because I think he was eyeing adding pitching the next year. Maybe it was more of a 4 year plan. This didn't mean the Sox could suck for 4-5 years while his plan took effect. Clearly, with the spending continuing, we were supposed to remain competitive for those 2-3 years before his plan reached fruition- or being highly competitive as a top 3 ring contender for several years afterwards.
It's my opinion- nothing more.
Because they weren't prospects anymore and had already become indispensable. Wasn't Margot and Shaw Theo's guys?
DD has traded away these prospects in the last 8 months (by highest soxprospects ranking):
1 Moncada (Sale)
3 Espinoza (Pomeranz)
3 Margot (Kimbrel)
5 Kopech (Sale)
6 Guerra (Kimbrel)
7 Basabe (Sale)
9 Dubron (Thornburg)
12 Rijo (A Hill)
12 Shaw (Thornburg)
13 L Allen (Kimbrel)
18 Basabe (Ziegler)
20 C Asuaje (Kimbrel)
21 V Diaz (Sale)
24 Pennington (Thornburg)
40 J Almonte (Ziegler)
43 Wilkerson (A Hill)
Had BC traded similar ranked guys for an immediate win now strategy, where would 1 or 2 of Betts, Bogey, JBJ and others be right now?
Maybe BC would still have his job.
Is it if the team has to shop JD Martinez and Ian Kinsley just to stay afloat? And Cabrera still has 7 years and $212mill REMAINING!!!!
Coupled with the $84mill still owed to Verlander over the next three seasons, and that is an INSANE $300 million to two aging players who are most definitely NOT going to repeat their 2016 seasons until their respective free agencies.
Is this really how a team builds a window to win in your eyes?