Red Sox Principal Owner isn’t looking to add to the already high payroll
The Boston Red Sox have the highest payroll in the MLB but their performance has the owners not wanting to spend more cash.
The trade deadline is just a few short weeks away and the Red Sox have some serious gaps in the lineup that need to be repaired. The offense has shown in recent games that it hasn’t given up and can match any squad out there. Boston’s pitching, on the other hand, has been horrendous this season and is now second to the Mets with 17 blown saves.
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The London Series left Boston reeling and with more questions than answers. Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry recently spoke with Rob Bradford of WEEI and he made it pretty clear what the gameplan is going into the trade deadline. With how poorly the team has performed in 2019 it seems that the ownership group is very tentative to add to an already bloated payroll.
"“We’re already over budget and we were substantially over our budget last year and this year,” Henry told WEEI. “We’re not going to be looking to add a lot of payroll. And it’s hard to imagine fielding a better team. If we play up to our capabilities we’ll be fine. That’s the question: Will we? We’re halfway through and we haven’t.”"
That has to be hard for Red Sox Nation to hear from the boss. We’ve all seen this team underperform since Opening Day with no end in sight. During the London Series Boston scored 21 runs and yet lost both games because the pitching has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. So to hear that the purse strings are tight is a bit of a downer.
A solution to this season’s woes may not be just to throw money at it but we’re pretty damn close to hitting DEFCON 3 on this year. The London Series left Boston 11-games back in the AL East standings and 2-games back in the Wild Card. When you look at the calendar it feels like there’s still time in the hourglass but the sand is falling at a rapid pace.
If the Red Sox were playing at a better rate to their potential then I think Henry would be more willing to spend the cash. But with $225M poured into this roster it’s hard to justify spending more with a record of 44-40 and 4-6 in their last 10. Many will try and counter with the fact that we just won the World Series but that isn’t a positive argument.
Yes, Boston just won the World Series but THIS season they are on pace to miss the postseason by a mile. If I’m Henry, I don’t want to add TOO much to the payroll but I see that my team needs some serious pieces and would be willing to spend. It also came out recently that the plan is to convert Nathan Eovaldi to a reliever to help the pen and offset the cost of adding another arm.
Next. Is this Boston Red Sox team a legitimate contender?. dark
The Red Sox have been a disappointment this season and it’s hard to see much positivity in the future. With the bosses no willing to add too much more to the already massive budget I don’t know how much they can do to improve the issues at hand. With the trade deadline a few short weeks away only time will tell what they have in the works.