You should already know the back story. This isn’t confusing. Wilson was the final piece of the Cease trade and was acquired solely to be flipped for additional prospect(s). He failed miserably after the Sox acquired him in 2024 to the tune of a -0.6 bWAR and was untradeable.
Wilson was then signed for $950K in January of this year which is barely over the minimum. A month later, Wilson was DFA’ed so the Sox could claim Brandon Eisert off waivers. Not one team was willing to claim Wilson at only around $200K over the minimum salary.
So while it’s nice that Wilson can now serve a role as a cheap reliever on a non-competitive team, he was acquired to be flipped but he wrecked his own value immediately after coming to the Sox from the Padres.
Meanwhile, Liam Hendriks was a very well paid and good closer on a competitive Sox team. Not really a good comparison.