Is $200 million enough to field a playoff team with this roster? Well, let’s hope so!
Remember November? That month when we breathed a big sigh of relief when Yankees did not win the World Series, all while watching a team that spent nearly double what the Red Sox did hoist their second World Series trophy in five years? Later that month, do you recall Sam Kennedy claim that the Red Sox were here to play this offseason? What a fond memory that was!
Since then, the Dodgers have committed nearly half a billion dollars to their 40-man roster. The Red Sox, on the other hand, have spent just $74 million in that amount of time, much of it on players with an uncertain path to a healthy 2025 and beyond (albeit, players with upside if all goes according to the most optimistic of plans). It’s been beaten to death, sure, but take another look the full quote from Kennedy:
“Even if it takes us over the CBT,” said Kennedy at the owners meetings, “our priority is 90 to 95 wins, and winning the American League East, and winning the division for multiple years.”
The CBT, for those unfamiliar, begins at $241 million, while the more onerous penalties that impact a team’s draft picks don’t kick in until a team hits the $281 million mark. The Dodgers are spending $301 million on their active roster; that’s not even counting winning the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. The Red Sox, meanwhile, are actually spending $30 million less than they did last season, and there are still question marks about second base, catcher, the bullpen, and the righty-lefty balance of the lineup. Now, we can argue about how big those question marks actually are, but also consider this quote on Alex Bregman that Kennedy, um, offered up earlier in the week:
“I’m not allowed to talk about any specific free agent negotiations or anything,” Kennedy said, “but given that he’s unsigned, I think that speaks for itself.”
Let it be known that I personally am of the notion that Alex Bregman may not improve this team enough for how much he may cost, regardless of his prior contributions to the Astros (let’s leave the 2017 jokes out…. for now. After he signs somewhere else, free game.) The Red Sox, for another year, seem to be punting, though less so than the immediate past. But given what was said earlier in the offseason regarding a commitment to more spending, what the hell could that quote on Bregman mean, Sam? Let’s hypothesize:
- The Red Sox and Bregman haven’t meaningfully engaged in contract negotiations.
- The Red Sox and Bregman have talked, but Bregman costs more than the Red Sox are willing to spend.
- The Red Sox and Bregman have talked, but given the state of the Red Sox farm system, spearheaded by Marcelo Mayer and Kristian Campbell, who play the same positions that Alex Bregman might be playing in 2025, the Sox just aren’t that interested.
- Whether or not Alex Bregman and the Red Sox have conversed, there aren’t many other team interested in Alex Bregman.
All of the above possibilities have one shared outcome: that quote is made to piss Alex Bregman off. Which is fine, in a vacuum, but moreso fine if there’s no plan to sign Bregman and the third of those four options is the shared organizational hope.
One more quote, perhaps the most maddening of all, from that same interview earlier in the week with Cotillo:
“The approach Bres (Craig Breslow) took was one of extreme aggression, extreme urgency. That doesn’t mean you’re going to end up signing every single free agent you engage with or complete trades that you embark on. It has been great to see the aggressive approach and the sense of urgency within baseball operations to improve.
Now, given that quote earlier in the offseason, if that doesn’t sound like a consolation, I don’t know what does!
Let me state this: despite the lack of spending, this is still the best offseason the Red Sox have had since Dave Dombrowski was in charge. Craig Breslow (who I will never call Bres because, WOW, that rambunctious name doesn’t fit his personality) has moved more aggressively and put up parts of that thriving farm that may be seen as excess (save for Kyle Teel, which I’m still scratching my head about, but I digress.) But when this team spends less money on free agents than they did on a 81-win team, while remaining stating publicly that they’re aiming for a 90-95 win season, they better be damn sure that the young, emerging pieces who survived the offseason will be performing at a big league level very quickly. Or else we may be having exactly this conversation next year…. or worse, even sooner.