About 11 months ago, John Henry posted a celebratory picture to Instagram of himself smoking a cigar. It came in the wake of the Red Sox signing Alex Bregman to a 3-year, $120 million contract at the very beginning of spring training. Henry seemed extremely pleased with himself.
He stepped in in the final moments, gave Craig Breslow the green light to make Bregman one of the highest single-season earners in baseball history. It was the move the entire fan base had been hoping for.
The problem was that the contract had opt-outs after each season, so Bregman was free to leave at any point, and that's what he did.