If my math is correct, the Sox had around 2.4M left (including Hernandez), and the 10 other signings here come out to $735K, leaving them with around 1.6M in available funds (give or take).
It could've been that they saw the toxic mess that was the team/clubhouse, realized the likelihood of actually overtaking CLE we're slim, and chose to leave Colas where he was. I'd like to think the org has at least a shred of awareness to recognize the dumpster fire that was last year. I'm glad they didn't expose him to that crap.
Service time should have no impact on Colas breaking camp with the club (or not) out of ST, that should depend on his performance. Leury starting for a month anywhere, especially RF, would be an abomination.
Wear that cap proudly, you can't fix or help other people's stupidity. I love the Ballers hat I got and rocked it to quite a few games last year without incident.
Development-wise them getting some of these guys to AA and not having them completely flame out and bust are positive signs given the numerous signings in the past that could barely make it past Kanny. That's where my "getting better results lately" stems from. Obviously they'll be judged on when/if/how they perform in the majors (and it won't mean much if none of them succeed), but they seem to be on a better track, which is encouraging to me.
They've seemed to be getting a lot better results from the INTL market as of late but your main point rings true. In the grand scheme of things adding another complex league team isn't all that expensive when you consider a major league team's budget. The fact that they don't do it never made sense to me (outside of not wanting to spend the $ to do it).
Hernandez is rumored to be 500k, so that brings the total down to that 2.4M area. And yes there are several teams that have multiple DSL clubs. Assuming I counted correctly, the Sox are one of 11 teams to only have one DSL team. I believe it to be incredibly dumb and short-sighted given the potential return they could get from being able to roster/play more talent.