What have the Sox done with their payroll flexibility?
Watched AL East get better
February is going to be the Red Sox’ month.
It has to be, right? They watched October baseball from the couch and must have taken an extra-long holiday break in November, December and January as the top-tier free agents slipped off the board, the best players available via trade were dealt and even the low-risk, highreward guys signed with other teams.
Team president Sam Kennedy told Dan Shaughnessy that the Sox’ payroll will be “somewhere in the top echelon of baseball,” whatever that means. They’re currently around $160 million, which would be the lowest payroll the local nine have begun a season with in more than a decade.
Cheers to Kennedy for finally admitting that the Sox aren’t “going for it with an allin approach” this year. They’ve been trying to feign competitiveness since Chaim Bloom was hired at the end of the 2019 season, even though most of the moves they’ve made have been to reduce talent, not add.
Flash back to last February, when they traded Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers for three young players, including Alex Verdugo, and Kennedy was singing a different tune.
“We’re now in a position with newfound resources and newfound flexibility and a club that only won 84 games last year that we felt underperformed … so we do think we’re in a position in the AL East to compete,” he said. Then the Sox posted their lowest winning percentage since 1965.
Which leads us to the present day. Where are the “newfound resources” being spent? Are they being used at all? And what use is the “newfound flexibility” providing?
Flexibility means nothing if the team isn’t willing to stretch its legs. It’s just a fancy way of saying they can do something if they want to. Key word: if.
George Springer (Blue Jays) and DJ LeMahieu (Yankees) are the big potatoes free agents who went off the board without much of a sniff from the Red Sox.
As for the small potatoes free agents, the Sox have been “in on” just about all of them, without signing any but a pair of mop-up men/depth starters in Matt Andriese and Martin Perez.
Either Boston is no longer a desirable destination or the Red Sox are merely looking for bargain deals that give them a chance at surplus value in the future.
A quick recap of some of the players who signed in the last 10 days:
Jurickson Profar, 28, utility man:
Profar agreed to sign with the Padres on a threeyear deal reportedly worth $21 million. The deal also gives him opt-outs after each season. If Profar is as good as they hope, the Friars get a great player on a cheap one-year deal. If he isn’t, they try again next year. Profar admittedly doesn’t do much for the Red Sox given he was one of the worst defensive second baseman in baseball the last time he played there regularly in 2019 and his best career OPS is .793. His career OPS is .715.
Corey Kluber, 34, right-handed starter: Kluber, who calls Winchester his home, ended up signing with the Yankees on a one-year deal worth $11 million. The two-time Cy Young winner was a wellknown target of the Red Sox, but they reportedly only wanted him if they could lock in an option for a second year. Again, the focus seems to be on surplus value in the future. The present doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot, given the now-healthy Kluber could help lead the Yankees to a division title this year.
Kirby Yates, 33, right-handed reliever: Two years ago he was arguably the best reliever in baseball. Now he’ll be pitching for the Blue Jays on a oneyear deal that reportedly guarantees him only $5.5 million, with a chance to make up to $4.5 million in performance bonuses. The Sox have yet to make any impactful additions to their bullpen while the Jays added Yates and Tyler Chatwood this offseason. Along with Springer, the gap between the Jays and Sox as the third-best team in the East continues to widen.
Jose Quintana, 31, left-handed starter: Quintana was the perfect mid-rotation guy for a team like the Red Sox, but he instead signed a one-year, $8-million deal with the Angels. He has a career 3.73 ERA with the White Sox and Cubs.
Jon Lester, 37, left-handed starter: the Red Sox never bothered trying to sign Lester, according to WEEI.com. Instead, the former Sox legend will join the Nationals on a one-year deal worth just $5 million. It’s wild to think the Sox would rather spend that money on Perez in the back of their rotation than Lester, even at this point his career. It’s hard to think of a more trustworthy third or fourth starter behind Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and/or Eduardo Rodriguez in a playoff series.
This year seems like the perfect time to be a big-market team looking for middle-tier free agents. With the pandemic scaring teams from spending, most of the contracts look affordable. They’ve typically been short-term, and the longterm deals have a good chance to look better two or three years from now, when the pandemic’s effect on the economy has faded and salaries continue to rise the way they have consistently in MLB. LeMahieu is making $15 million a year for six years, but what’s $15 million going to look like in 2025? By then, it could be fifth-starter money.
Fifth starter is the only position the Red Sox have filled this winter.