Surprising Details of Red Sox's Ranger Suárez Contract Revealed

According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Red Sox structured Suárez's deal to be heavily backloaded. The deal averages $26 million per year, but he'll make just $7 million in yearly salary for 2026, with commitments of $30 million-plus for the last three years.

The Red Sox will also owe Suárez a $10 million buyout on a 2031 mutual option, regardless of whether it's the player or the club turning down their half of the deal. There's virtually no precedent for an option like that being picked up by both sides.

Spotrac currently projects the Red Sox's luxury tax payroll to be $276.1 million, which is the sixth-highest in Major League Baseball. But that number is heavily propped up by Suárez's and all the other backloaded deals on the roster, including much bigger annual tax hits for Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Kristian Campbell than what they're actually being paid.

The team's total cash payroll is likely in the low $200 million range, though Spotrac's calculation doesn't yet account for Suárez.

The Red Sox are kicking the can down the road when it comes to spending, and some of that may be in anticipation of the goalposts moving when it comes to those competitive balance tax thresholds when the collective bargaining agreement is renegotiated next offseason.

But it's not an encouraging sign for the fan base that Suárez's deal, specifically, was backloaded, because rather than offsetting some of the costs of their other deals up front, they seem to be setting themselves up to dump salary in the future.