You almost can't help but come down from such heights. When you win 108 games and then barge through three powerhouses in the postseason -- as the world champion 2018 Boston Red Sox did -- it's nigh impossible to sustain. That's especially the case in baseball, in which the very structure of the sport pushes down ceilings and lifts floors toward an unpredictable middle. None but the most unrelenting pessimist, however, could have foreseen the serialized and self-inflicted miseries that would afflict the Red Sox in the months to come. 

So it's time for a thorough autopsy of what's become of those 2018 champions and those franchise-record 108 wins. The motivation, of course, is the recent trade of franchise icon Mookie Betts and the still useful David Price to the Dodgers for a roundly uninspiring return, but that's "merely" the capstone -- one hopes, anyway. Gird yourselves for carnage and indignities, won't you?

April 2019 - The Red Sox present 2018 championship rings to players and staff. According to Scott Miller of Bleacher Report, however, not all members of the organization received the same ring. Miller writes: 

"Most of the club's scouts and player development staff received "fake rings" in 2019, according to one source with direct knowledge, in the aftermath of the '18 World Series victory. The source said the club sent a letter with the ring stating something to the effect of "congratulations on the 2018 World Series; all of your hard work has paid off with a Tier 3 ring" that included "lab created" sapphires and rubies and cubic zirconium.

"'The guys that scouted and developed Mookie Betts got a fake ring,' the source said. 'The guy that signed Mookie got a fake ring.'"

Sept. 9, 2019 - The Red Sox part ways with team president Dave Dombrowski less than one year after the team that Dombrowski built won the World Series. On Dombrowski's watch, the Red Sox won division titles in 2016 and 2017 before realizing their ultimate goal in 2018. Dombrowski is famously an operator who devotes all resources toward the singular goal of winning a championship, and he indeed achieved that in Boston. The puzzling decision to fire the future Hall of Famer is the first sign that the Red Sox are planning to cut payroll at the expense of the team on the field.

Sept. 20, 2019 - With the Indians' win over the Phillies, the Red Sox are eliminated from postseason contention. The Sox later fall to the Rays by a score of 5-4 and see their record drop to 80-73 for the year.

Sept. 27. 2019 - Owner John Henry announces the team's intention to cut payroll in advance of the 2020 season. "This year we need to be under the CBT and that was something we've known for more than a year now," Henry said. "If you don't reset there are penalties so we've known for some time now we needed to reset as other clubs have done."

The "CBT" is the Competitive Balance Tax, or the luxury tax, as it's more commonly known. Payrolls over the threshold are taxed at various rates depending on how many consecutive years the team in question has been over, and some additional penalties can also be involved. The Red Sox had been over the line for two straight years, and a third year would have increased the taxes and penalties. Granted, they wouldn't mean much to a team of Boston's means, but teams have a history of over-responding to the CBT. Thus Henry's stated desire to get under for 2020. At the time, the Sox were roughly $30 million over the $208 million CBT limit for 2020. 

Sept. 29, 2019 - The Red Sox's 2019 regular season ends with a 5-4 walk-off win over the Orioles. Their final record is 84-78, which constitutes a 24-game decline from 2018. After winning the AL East by eight games in 2018, the Red Sox finish in third place and 19 games off the pace -- i.e., closer in the standings to the 95-loss Blue Jays than the first-place Yankees. 

Oct. 7, 2019 - The Red Sox announce that ticket prices at Fenway Park will increase by an average of 1.7 percent. The cheapest tickets in the bleachers and standing room only sections are generally hit with the biggest increases. Ticket prices are set in response to demand cues, but the increase coming off a disappointing season is striking, especially given what's yet to unfold. 

Oct. 25, 2019 - The Red Sox pick Rays executive Chaim Bloom as their next general manager. While Bloom is doubtless a skilled front office leader, his time with the Rays was notable for an emphasis on economical half-measures rather than devoting operating revenues toward fielding the best team possible. This is the next "tell" that the Sox are planning to cut expenses. 

Nov. 5, 2019 - DH J.D. Martinez chooses against using the opt-out in his contract with Boston. That means the Red Sox will be committed his $23.75 million salary for 2020. More to the point, this eliminates one path for the club to reduce payroll. Had Martinez opted out and become a free agent, the Sox would be much closer to the CBT limit for 2020. 

Jan. 7, 2020 - Following a report by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic, MLB announces that it will conduct an investigation of the Red Sox for electronically aided sign-stealing during the 2018 season. The Red Sox are alleged to have used the video replay room to decode signs from the opposing catcher to the opposing pitcher and then use baserunners to signal the pitch to the hitter. The fact that the Red Sox were previously disciplined for stealing signs via wearable tech during the 2017 season means that the penalties could be quite stiff. That's especially the case in light of the disciplinary actions already taken against the Astros for similar offenses.

Jan. 10, 2020 - Betts and the Red Sox avoid arbitration by agreeing to a $27 million contract for 2020. This breaks Nolan Arenado's record for the highest arbitration-eligible salary of $26 million in 2019. Given Martinez's opt-in and Betts' walk-year status, this increases the likelihood that the Sox will seek to trade their franchise outfielder. 

Jan. 12, 2020 - Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe reports on an email exchange with John Henry. In that exchange, Henry claims that "... this focus on CBT resides with the media far more than it does within the Sox." Henry writes this despite the fact that in September of 2019, he said in a public forum that the Red Sox were focused on getting under the CBT threshold for 2020, as noted above. In the email exchange with Shaughnessy, Henry goes on to write: "I reminded baseball ops that we are focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years over and above resetting to which they said, 'That's exactly how we've been approaching it.'"

Jan. 14, 2020 - The Red Sox announced that they've mutually parted ways with manager Alex Cora. The decision stems from the fact that Cora was mentioned prominently in MLB's report on the Astros' sign-stealing scandal. Cora had been the Astros' bench coach at the time and according to Rob Manfred's investigation had been central to devising and carrying out the scheme. Cora was the Red Sox's manager for their championship season of 2018 and for 2019. 

Jan. 28, 2020 - Former Red Sox infielder Lou Merloni reports on WEEI's "Ordway, Merloni & Fauria" that the club offered Betts a 10-year, $300 million extension after the 2018 season. There's little doubt that this was leaked by the Red Sox in an effort to turn public opinion against Betts prior to a trade. As is typically the case, the player is broadly derided as greedy and disloyal for turning down a below-market offer, while the team gets the political cover it seeks as a reward making that same below-market offer.

Feb. 3, 2020 - The Red Sox's equipment truck departs for their spring training complex in Fort Myers, Florida against the backdrop of Betts trade rumors and despite the fact that the team still doesn't have a manager for 2020. As of this date, the Red Sox have also spent just $9.9 million on major league free agents for 2020 -- Martin Perez, Jose Peraza, and Kevin Plawecki. Among AL teams, just the Athletics, Royals, Orioles, Indians, and Mariners have spent less on free agents during the 2019-20 offseason. 

More broadly, the Red Sox at this juncture have intact a championship-caliber core of Betts, Martinez, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Rather than build around that in the service of entirely realistic World Series aspirations, the Sox have done almost nothing. In 24 hours or so, they'll do worse than nothing. 

Feb. 4, 2020 - The Red Sox reportedly trade Betts and Price to the Dodgers as part of the three-team deal with the Twins that lands them young outfielder Alex Verdugo and hard-throwing right-hander Brusdar Graterol. They'll also reportedly pay half of the $96 million that Price is owed over the next three seasons. With the trade, the Sox lose one of the best players in baseball and also valuable innings from a weak rotation. The trade gets them under the CBT line for 2020 but also effectively smothers their hopes for contending in 2020. As well, the deal puts the lie to Henry's January comments that the team is "focused on competitiveness over the next 5 years over and above resetting." 

In essence, the Sox carved two holes in their roster -- one huge and another larger than you think -- for an outfielder with serious makeup issues, an arm that's probably bound for the bullpen long-term, and salary relief for a franchise with vast and full coffers. The Sox have more than enough to sign Betts to an extension and even add around him. That they did not is a matter of will, not capability. Any supposed "flexibility" they gain from shipping off one of their best homegrown talents since Carl Yastrzemski is nothing but a contrivance. The Boston Red Sox by virtue of being the Boston Red Sox have all the financial flexibility they could ever need. 

At this writing, it's been exactly one year and 100 days since Chris Sale struck out Manny Machado to end the 2018 World Series and secure the ninth championship in Red Sox history. That it could come to this in such rapid order would be shocking enough. That it came to this as a result of Boston's own doing is something else altogether. Whether you characterize it as consolation or mere explanation, the Red Sox's current low point is entirely deserved and in some ways part of the plan all along.