WS champions Red Sox get $12 million ‘tax’ bill

Nats sign 1B Adams to 1-year deal

BOSTON, Dec 16, (RTRS): The World Series champions Boston Red Sox owe nearly $12 million in luxury tax for having baseball’s biggest payroll in 2018.

Final calculations by the commissioner’s office set Boston’s tax bill at $11,951,091, with the Washington Nationals being the only other team that owes money at $2,386,097, per The Associated Press.

Because Boston’s payroll of $239.5 million exceeded Major League Baseball’s $197 million threshold by more than $40 million, the Red Sox will also be penalized in the amateur draft next June.

Boston’s top selection will be dropped 10 places from its original projection of No. 33 overall, under a new penalty put in place for the 2018 season.

Adams

The Los Angeles Angels announced the signing of first baseman Justin Bour to a one-year contract Saturday. A source told MLB.com the deal was for $2.5 million.

Bour, 30, split last season between the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies and tallied 20 homers, 59 RBIs and a career-high 73 walks in 141 games. It was the third 20-homer season in the last four years for the lefthanded slugger.

Bour batted .320 as a pinch hitter in 2018 and tied for the major league lead with 11 pinch-hit RBIs.

Cleveland has traded first baseman Yonder Alonso to the Chicago White Sox for outfield prospect Alex Call, the Indians confirmed.

Alonso, 31, has a career batting average of .265 with 90 home runs and 389 RBIs in 951 games over nine major league seasons. In 2018, his only season with the Indians, Alonso hit .250 with 23 home runs and a career-high 83 RBIs.

In three seasons in the minors, Call, a third-round draft choice of the White Sox in 2016, has hit .256 with an on-base percentage of .347. The 24-year-old has 21 home runs, 126 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 257 games.

After a brief sojourn to St Louis to play for the Cardinals, Matt Adams is heading back to the Washington Nationals, according to multiple

reports.

The burly first baseman signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Washington Nationals on Saturday,

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported. Adams hit .257 with 18 home runs and 48 RBIs in 94 games with the Nationals last season before the Cardinals claimed him off waivers Aug 21.

The Cardinals’ recent acquisition of first baseman

Paul Goldschmidt left little room for Adams to return to St Louis. In Washington, he will provide a powerful lefthanded bat off the bench or be utilized as an occasional starter in place of righthanded hitter Ryan Zimmerman.

The 30-year-old Adams is a .266 career hitter with 96 home runs and 332 RBIs in 707 games. He has hit 15plus home runs five times in seven seasons.