Fenway Park has gone from among the most fashionable places to be seen to just another ballpark, and the timing could not be worse for a Red Sox administration that might have been planning for another lean year.

Seriously, might not that be, above all else, the reason the Sox put in a claim for Johnny Damon? The Sox lack star power. The Sox lack appeal. The problem now is not solely that there are better teams (plural) in the American League East, but that there are more exciting ones, too. The Red Sox are closer to fourth place than they are to second or first, and there appear to be no quick fixes on a relatively thin free agent market that could include Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez and David Ortiz.