You don’t like the strategy of pushing the pitch counts high to start the season, thus not thinking you’d need long relief? That will work out so well for a team with no starting pitching depth.
I think you hit it on the head, last year was probably worse Sox year for some of us. Just insulting and pathetic on every level. The vibes were positive after Houston (besides bullpen), but to come home and have a historically bad series against a mediocre team just brings about a lot of bad feelings. Also seeing their main slugger get hurt running the bases in the first week is too familiar IMO.
Who is saying this team can’t compete? I see the poll you just created, and I haven’t seen anyone saying they have no shot this year. There’s been some very good things and very bad things in the first week, but being upset about the roster and/or performance doesn’t mean this team can’t squeak out 85 wins.
Just for discussion, if they’re out of it at the deadline, the following need to be available:
Timmy, Giolito, Hendricks, Bummer, Lynn, Kelly, Andrus, Grandal, Diekman, Graveman