There was too much of a value gap to make up for in trying to catch the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins finished with a 24 fWAR in terms of the value they had with their players last season to win the AL Central last season. The Sox finished with three.
The Sox would have needed to add Shohei Ohtani, Matt Chapman, and the 2001 version of Barry Bonds in the offseason to make up that gap. Considering the owner laughed at the idea of signing Ohtani, adding that much value was not going to happen.
Maybe pulling off a coup and getting David Stearns to come to the Southside instead of New York would have put the Sox in a better position to be led long-term. Not even his brilliant mind to find players would have been able to construct a roster that was going to cover that gulf to win the division.
Making the task even harder was that the Royals spent wisely in the offseason to put themselves in a position to climb out the AL Central cellar.
Add in the Guardians playing better this season and the perfect offseason was going to be needed to put together a roster to keep pace.
What should have happened in hindsight is Reinsdorf realizing he was not going to provide the resources to things around quickly. Instead, he should have taken the long view, gone out, and hired the best possible candidate to be GM.
He claims he does not have the kind of time since he is nearing 90. He should have also been honest with himself and realized he could not control time. What he can control is who he hires to run the team. He hired the worst possible candidate among the worst possible search in the history of baseball.
However, a home run hire would not have had much success this season because that would have meant Jerry agreeing to spend money and expand the front office. Two things he loathes.