“Why can’t we get players like that?”

It all started with Jeff Bagwell.

Channel 4 anchor Bob Lobel offered his historic “WCWGPLT” on-air lament whenever Bagwell bashed another home run for the Houston Astros. Bagwell was infamously traded by the Red Sox in 1990, when he was still playing for Class AA New Britain, to the Astros in 1990 for reliever Larry Andersen.

Andersen helped the Red Sox win the AL East that season. So did Tom Brunansky. Oakland summarily swept Boston from the ALCS in four games.

Bagwell, meanwhile, ended up in the Hall of Fame after a career that included 449 steroid-free home runs, four All-Star Game nods, and 1994 NL MVP honors.

Lobel, and millions of his fellow New Englanders, never let then-Red Sox GM Lou Gorman forget about it.

Hence, his ironic query.

Gorman had his own way with words. He bestowed one of Boston’s all-time epic quotes upon the jilted masses the day Roger Clemens walked out of spring training in 1987: “The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I’ll have lunch.”

Clemens eventually came back. And we had lunch at Chain O’Lakes Park.

Lobel’s seven words of eloquence, whose emotional roots go back to Babe Ruth, has been a default exclamation any time an athlete who once labored in Boston finds greener pastures elsewhere.

We heard “WCWGPLT” when Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers.

We heard “WCWGPLT” when Wade Boggs won a World Series with the Yankees.

We heard “WCWGPLT” when Ray Bourque won a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche.

“WCWGPLT” doesn’t just apply to players.

It was probably your second thought, or your first impulse suitable for print, after Bruce Cassidy and the Las Vegas Golden Knights won the 2023 Stanley Cup.

This year, we have another “WCWGPLT” Hall of Fame inductee in Chris Sale.

Sale’s tenure with the Red Sox was bittersweet.

Sweet in that Sale was on the mound in 2018, corkscrewing Manny Machado for the final out of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. In his first two seasons in Boston, Sale was a dizzying 29-12 with 545 strikeouts in 372.1 innings pitched while posting a 2.56 ERA.

It was the most dominant two-year by any Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez.

Bitter in that his final five years with the club were bludgeoned by injury, on the field and off, frustration, and failed  expectations. Sale missed all of the COVID-shortened 2020 season. When he did pitch, he was more day-old-baked-goods-stale than simply Sale.

In four seasons (2019 and 2021-23) with Boston, Sale totaled 298.1 innings, but he posted a pedestrian 4.16 ERA in 34 starts.

Unlike the Mookie Betts “trade,” dealing Sale was no salary dump. The Red Sox paid the Braves $17 million this season to take Sale off their hands. The Braves gave Sale an extension in January, but lowered his 2024 salary to $16 million. So the Braves made $1 million off the Red Sox, and got an NL Cy Young Award season from Sale.

Boston got Vaughn Grissom back in trade. State Run Media hailed the deal as necessary for all concerned. In much the same way State Run Media lauded Boston’s “return” in the Betts salary dump – it told us Grissom was Boston’s second baseman of the present and future.

This season, Grissom had played in 26 games before Tuesday, posting a Stan Papi-like slash line of .146/.198./157.

The Red Sox got rid of Sale just in time for him to deliver more than 28 starts for the first time since 2017.

Sale leads the majors in ERA, wins and strikeouts. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in 18 starts. No pitcher has done that since they began charting earned runs back in 1913, according to USA Today.

Now 35, Sale is pitching like someone in his prime. He’s 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts over 177.1 innings.

His exit has been brushed aside far too easily. Sure, he was dogged by injury in recent years. But the possibility of a healthy Sale was always there. He’s proven it this season.

And since the Red Sox eventually paid 106.25% of Sale’s 2024 salary, this was a rare move that was NOT about money.

This was about baseball.

And Craig Breslow whiffed.

Badly.

Perhaps Sale would not have put up such stellar numbers in Boston. The Red Sox led MLB with 111 errors as of Tuesday. And are 29th in overall fielding percentage. But even if Sale went 13-8 in Boston, instead of 18-3, it would have pushed the Red Sox into Wild Card reality.

The Braves are just outside looking in for the final NL postseason berth.

The 2024 MLB postseason will be loaded with “WCWGPLT” guys.

The Red Sox were reportedly “a real threat” to sign Shohei Ohtani last fall. Old John Henry might have gone “full throttle” in bagging a once-in-a-century talent like Ohtani. New John Henry was off trying to save golf from itself.

Mookie Betts, Ohtani and the Dodgers returned in the playoffs. Mookie is joined this postseason by Xander Bogaerts in San Diego, whose Padres hold the No. 1 NL Wild Card spot. GM Dave Dombrowski has built another winner in Philadelphia. His Phillies clinched the NL East on Monday.

Arizona GM Mike Hazen – Theo Epstein’s in-house protégé – and manager Torey Lovullo – John Farrell’s in-house protégé – have their reigning NL champion Diamondbacks in the playoffs as of press time.

(Yes, the Diamondbacks played in the World Series last year.)

Your Red Sox?

Well, they clinched NOT finishing in last place for the fourth time in five seasons Monday.

As Lobel might say, “Why do we get players like that?”

Bill Speros can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com. He posts on X @RealOBF and @BillSperos