Instead of closing the gap on better teams, Red Sox have seen it widen this winter

When the 2017 regular season ended, it was rather obvious that the Red Sox were inferior to both the Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros.

Both teams won over 100 games (101 for the Astros and 102 for the Indians). The Astros then proved their superiority in the ALDS, beating the Red Sox in four games.

And while the Red Sox finished two games in front of the rival Yankees to capture their second consecutive AL East title, the Yankees disposed of the Indians in the ALDS and forced the eventual World Series champion Astros to a thrilling seven games in the ALCS.

By the time the Astros held off the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Series, there was little doubt that the Red Sox were the fourth best team in the American League.Without having improved their roster any – their only “addition’’ of significance this off-season has been the return of first baseman Mitch Moreland – that probably remains the case.

What’s changed, however, is the amount of distance between the Sox and the other contenders. At a time when the gap should be getting smaller, it has, instead, become wider.

The Yankees added NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton to an already power-packed lineup and brought back CC Sabathia. The Yanks have also continued to explore other rotation upgrades. They were in talks with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Gerrit Cole and GM Brian Cashman acknowledged last week that his team is trying to find a way to sign free agent Yu Darvish and still remain under the luxury tax threshold.

The Astros, meanwhile, obtained Cole to give them the game’s best and deepest rotation and also signed reliever Joe Smith to further bolster the bullpen.

Only the Indians haven’t improved. They lost first baseman Carlos Santana in free agency and saw Smith and Bryan Shaw leave, too. They added Yonder Alonso to help replace the loss of Santana at first base, and that represents a drop-off.

But given that the Indians were clearly better than the Sox at the end of the season, it’s hard to see how the Sox have pulled even.

Even given the freakishly slow nature of the free agent market, the Red Sox’ inaction is puzzling. It’s entirely understandable that they’re apparently intent on holding the line on free agent slugger J.D. Martinez, who, according to reports, is seeking a seven-year commitment.

The Sox themselves don’t have to look very far to see the potentially disastrous consequences of mega-contracts to aging position players. This year, they’ll pay more than $40 million combined to Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez – the former isn’t here anymore, and with the latter, the Sox are hoping to minimize his playing time so they’re not forced into paying him another $22 million next season.

So the caution with Martinez isn’t just understandable, it’s proper.

But the Sox don’t seem to be very aggressive in shopping for less expensive alternatives, which, if nothing else, could give them valuable leverage in any further negotiations with Martinez and agent Scott Boras. They were strangely absent on Jay Bruce, who has averaged better than 30 homers and 90 RBI over the last three seasons and got a three-year, $39 million deal from the Mets.

Apart from their futile efforts to add some necessary sock to the lineup,  the Sox have literally not done a single other thing to improve.

• They haven’t added an established lefty reliever, though some good ones were available (Jake McGee, Boone Logan, Mike Minor) and some quality options remain (Tony Watson, Brian Duensing). For now, the most “experienced’’ reliever on the roster is Robby Scott, who has 41.2 career innings in the big leagues.

• They haven’t added a righty reliever to help combat the Yankees lineup, which will feature three powerful right-handed hitters in Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

• They haven’t added any starting pitching depth, despite the fact that they will almost certainly start the season without both Eduardo Rodriguez (knee surgery) and Steven Wright (potential disciplined stemming from a domestic incident last month).

• They haven’t replaced Eduardo Nunez, who provided them with much-needed infield depth over the final two months. Dustin Pedroia will miss time at the start of the season, and the Sox will have to pick between Brock Holt, Marco Hernandez, Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin as his replacement at second. Nunez remains unsigned, as did Howie Kendrick until Monday, when he signed a heavily discounted two-year, $7 million deal with Washington.

Maybe they’ll eventually land Martinez on their own terms, and still have time and resources left over to address the bullpen and the bench. Maybe, against all appearances, they’re playing this unusual market to perfection.

But for now, they’re not even static. While the Astros and Yankees pull further away from them and the Indians at least maintain their advantage, the Sox have yet to leave the off-season starting gate.