Ever since the Red Sox traded Mookie Betts, a narrative has followed the club that they aren’t willing to go the extra mile to land the best players.

You hear it on sports talk radio, on the message boards and even whispered within the game itself. The narrative has lingered even as the Red Sox have maintained a payroll in excess of $200 million annually, brought in Trevor Story and extended Rafael Devers. It’s taken root as the club has stumbled to three last-place finishes in the past four years, and it’s festered amid John Henry’s protracted silence.

Coming into this offseason there was hope things might finally be different. The Red Sox had fired Chaim Bloom and replaced him with Craig Breslow, and everyone in a position of authority spoke of how the club’s recent performance was unacceptable.

Big changes were coming. Bold moves were promised. Now, it’s time for the Red Sox to put their money where their mouth is and back up their talk with action.

Nearly a month and a half after the World Series ended, the real offseason is about to begin. Shohei Ohtani has his record-smashing deal — an eye-popping 10-year, $700 million contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers — and with his business finished the rest of the free agent class should follow.

That includes the top starting pitchers like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell, at least one of whom the Red Sox need to get.

So far Breslow has said all the right things. He emphasized throughout the Winter Meetings how starting pitching is the top priority and that they aren’t going to do anything to inhibit their chances of landing a top arm. Underwhelming as the meetings were, the Red Sox were arguably the most active team over the course of the week, swinging three trades to add four pitchers and an outfielder, all of whom will help address areas of need.

But when the Yankees are adding Juan Soto and the Dodgers are committing more money to one player than Henry’s ownership group paid for the Red Sox in the first place, you can’t blame fans for getting antsy.

By now the Red Sox brass have to be tired of the criticism they’ve gotten. Of the suggestions they aren’t as committed to winning as they used to be. Of the idea of the Red Sox as baseball’s “interest kings,” perpetual bridesmaids who come in second or third on all the biggest names while ultimately landing none of them.

The good news is the solution is simple.

This week the club could begin putting those narratives to bed by rediscovering their old swagger and acting like the Red Sox again. There was once a time the Red Sox were looked at as one of the game’s financial heavyweights, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t still be talked about the same way as the Yankees, Dodgers and Mets.

Sign Yamamoto or Montgomery, no matter where the bidding might lead. Swing that big trade, even if the prospects it will cost feels a little bit painful. The analytics might suggest huge deals at the top of the market rarely pay off, but being paralyzed into inaction has costs too, and the Red Sox have been paying the price for four years.

At this point fans have reached the limits of their patience and won’t be inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. All throughout 2022 the Red Sox spoke about how Xander Bogaerts was the team’s top priority, and yet their actions never aligned with their words and by the time the club made a competitive offer, it was too late. If the Red Sox don’t make a big move this winter it will only reinforce those perceptions, and if next year’s club struggles again we could see apathy reach unpleasant new heights.

That can’t happen, and if the Red Sox are as committed to winning as they say, the time has come to go out and prove it.