After weeks of negotiations that launched baseball's most anticipated bidding war into a new fiscal stratosphere, the Red Sox' aggressive pursuit of superstar outfielder Juan Soto came to a disappointing end on Sunday night.
Soto will not be putting dents into the Green Monster for years to come ... at least not until the Mets come to town.
The 26-year-old slugger put pen to paper on a 10-year, $765 million contract with the Mets -- inking the largest contract in professional sports history.
The Red Sox -- who reportedly offered Soto a 15-year contract worth at least $700 million, according to MassLive's Sean McAdam -- unfortunately have nothing to show for their aggressive efforts to add arguably the best hitter in baseball.
Nothing except for multiple reports -- and outright pledges from top brass like team president Sam Kennedy -- that the Red Sox plan to aggressively bolster a roster that has missed the playoffs in five of the last six seasons.
A reported $700 million offer for Soto would seemingly validate that attempt for Boston to right the ship just as an influx of young, homegrown talent enters the big-league ranks.
But that won't mean much of anything if the aggressiveness and willingness to spend heavily on Soto isn't channeled into what should be a frantic couple of days during MLB's Winter Meetings.
As transformative a slugger as Soto is, signing him alone wasn't going to shift the fortunes of a Red Sox team that had far more pressing needs elsewhere on the roster.
It's a sentiment that Craig Breslow shared with McAdam earlier this month.
"I think the one thing we want to avoid is putting ourselves in a position where the success of our offseason hinges on a single transaction," Breslow told McAdam. "Because there's just too much uncertainty around any of that. We have to constantly think about, 'OK, this is Plan A, but if that falls through, what does Plan B look like and what does Plan C look like?' And so on.
So ... what's Plan B and C for the Red Sox now that Soto is setting up shop in Queens?
Even if Soto was swatting homers into the Red Sox bullpen in 2025, his presence in the heart of the lineup would have still done little to elevate a Boston rotation still woefully short on top-end talent.
If the Red Sox are willing to shell out $700 million to a luxury like Soto, one has to assume that Boston will have the means to sign at least one of the top pitchers on the free-agent market in Corbin Burnes or Max Fried.
Boston has reportedly already met with both starters just as the market is set to inevitably ramp up following Soto's signing.
Burnes is a 30-year-old workhorse who already has a Cy Young Award on his resume (2021), while Fried would give Boston a much-needed southpaw in their rotation. Even though Fried may not have the same durability as Burnes -- his career-best in innings pitched is 185.1 -- he did finish second in the NL Cy Young Award voting in 2022.
While the Red Sox have the ability to sign a No. 1 starter in free agency, they could also pivot (or outright complement) one of those signings by also trading for a younger, cost-controlled talent.
Be it Triston Casas, Wilyer Abreu, or one of the many blue-chip prospects in their system, the Red Sox should have the ability to dive into any sweepstakes involving talented arms like Garrett Crochet or other starters with high ceilings and years of team control.
Boston already has a solid foundation of starters in place with arms like Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Brayan Bello. Another starter (or two) would suddenly make that an area of strength for the Red Sox for the first time in a long time.
The Red Sox are in need of more pop at the plate, especially when it comes to right-handed batters.
It should come as little surprise that the Red Sox were immediately linked to slugging outfielder Teoscar Hernandez -- he of 14 home runs and 44 RBI in 45 career games at Fenway Park -- as a top contingency plan for Soto just hours before the now-Mets star signed.
Anthony Santander -- who slugged 44 home runs last season with the Orioles -- is another potential option in free agency.
Boston's willingness to move Casas if it nets a talented pitcher also opens up more possibilities -- be it signing Pete Alonso as an outright replacement or shifting Rafael Devers to first and signing/trading for a corner infielder like Alex Bregman or Nolan Arenado.
The Red Sox did add a flamethrowing lefty already in Aroldis Chapman last week. But even with his addition and the expected return of Liam Hendriks following Tommy John surgery, Boston could use another bullpen arm with a strong strikeout rate to help ferry the Sox through those perilous final innings of a game.
Boston may not want to shell out the big bucks for another hard-throwing lefty like Tanner Scott, but a righty like Jeff Hoffman (2.17 ERA, 89 strikeouts in 66.1 innings of work with the Phillies) could be an intriguing option.
Add in the return of Garrett Whitlock in a potential long relief role and the encouraging play of Justin Slaten last year, and Boston has the means to assemble an electric bullpen with just another impact signing.