Facing Imperfect Situation, Red Sox May Have Done the Best They Could

Many Red Sox fans feel embittered that the big-market, big-spending BoSox traded Mookie Betts, rather than throwing an enormous sum of money (likely around $400 million) at him next offseason.

"Why the penny pinching?," some ask.

The Collective Bargaining Tax (CBT) threshold is $208 million this season; it will rise to $210 million next season. If a star player, like Betts, is paid “just" $35 million, he would occupy 1/6th of that team's payroll space, while the other 25 players get the remaining 5/6ths. That’s not really a wise allocation of resources -- even ample resources.

And then there's the wisdom (or lack thereof) of agreeing to a 10-12 deal with any player. Long term deals with star players always seem great... until they aren't.

When the Red Sox signed former Cy Young winner David Price to a seven-year deal in 2015, who thought they'd ultimately pay him $169 million to pitch a mere four years and then ask him to simply go away? The Sox will pay half of Price's salary for the next three years to pitch for the Dodgers.

When the Red Sox signed stalwart Dustin Pedroia to an eight-year extension in 2013, who imagined that he would play in a total of nine games from 2018-2019, and perhaps be unable to play at all over the final two years of the deal? In essence, the Sox got four years from Pedroia, but will pay him for eight.

These are just two recent examples; the list goes on and on across baseball.

It's easy for fans to complain about how owners spend their money and to be resentful when those owners refuse to hand out high-dollar, long-term contracts. In some cases, such complaints are warranted. In this case, they’re not.

Quite predictably, some fans are complaining that John Henry and Tom Werner are cheap. It's simply untrue.

Since that duo bought the Red Sox in Dec. 2001, they've been first, second or third in payroll for 13 of those 18 years. Moreover, they've been top-six in spending for every one of those 18 years.

Red Sox fans are lucky to have such a committed ownership group. Yet, many of us have become accustomed to this generous spending and now take it for granted. Other sports teams face legitimate spending limitations every season and their fans naturally feel aggrieved. Red Sox fans don't share these concerns, yet we've become jaded anyway.

Some argue that, even at 50%, paying the luxury tax penalty is a paltry sum for uber-rich owners like Henry and Werner.

However, the punishment is steeper than that.

By going over the CBT for the third consecutive year, the Red Sox would have exposed themselves to greater draft and international penalties for signing free agents, lesser draft-pick compensation in exchange for departing free agents, and they would have seen reduced revenue-sharing rebates. All of this needs to be considered. It's not a matter of cheapness and money saving; it's about being able to reinvest next year and beyond in order to build a sustainable on-field product.

As Alex Speier of The Boston Globe wrote back in December: “If the Sox scale back their payroll to $205 million next season before returning to 2019 level of $243.5 million in 2021 and 2022, they could save a total of $90 million to $100 million over the next three years.”

That’s not chump change. Take it all into consideration and it's easier to understand why the Red Sox traded Betts and Price.

Remember, the Sox weren't dealing from a position of strength. How many teams have the revenue to absorb the $43 million in 2020 payroll the Dodgers just took on?

Moreover, Price is 34 and didn't live up to the first four years of his contract; the next three years aren’t going to get better for a pitcher who posted a career-low 92 mph average fastball velocity in 2019.

Lastly, as great as Mookie is, the Sox were dealing a player who will make $27 million this season and comes with just one year of club control; he’s the classic one-year rental, and a very expensive one at that.

Collectively, this was all a tough sell for Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox. Perhaps, they did the very best they could, given the circumstances.