The Plan and the Payroll

The Red Sox luxury tax payroll currently stands at about $130M. When you add in projected arbitration awards for Ortiz, Ellsbury, Saltalamacchia, Bard, Bailey, and the bench players, that leaves the Red Sox with little to no room remaining under the luxury tax threshold. As I’ve argued, the Red Sox offseason should be understood as a specifically structured and cleverly executed plan. They bolstered the rotation by emptying the bullpen, and then they filled the bullpen by trading MLB-ready semi-prospects for young, cheap relievers. This accomplished two goals. First, it enabled the club from to avoid the free agent market, thus making the roster younger and preventing another winner’s curse contract. Second, it kept the club’s payroll under or almost under the luxury tax threshold. It’s possible that Cherington still has another big acquisition coming up, and owners are planning to pay a bit of tax, but it’s growing more and more likely that Henry and co imposed a strict spen...