The Boston Red Sox are doing whatever they can this winter to reset their CBT penalties while staying competitive. Hard times in 2020 can pay off in 2021.
All we heard from the Red Sox towards the end of the 2019 season going into this offseason was about budget. Yes, there was the need to replace Dave Dombrowski and the whispers surrounding J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts, but the albatross was always the salary. Boston went and hired a guy who can work wonders with a small budget in Chaim Bloom, and that’s what he’ll need to do.
When the Red Sox came out and said that they wanted to get below the $208M CBT threshold for the 2020 season, I had to take a step back. In the grand scheme of life that is an insane amount of money, but for a team that finished 2019 at around $240M, that’s a massive salary cut. Especially considering that Boston is already flirting with a salary of $218M with the offseason just beginning.
Boom will have an arduous task during this free-agent window of building a World Series contender while trying to get the budget back in the black. Luckily for him, he has all the pieces necessary to find themselves back in the Fall Classic in 2020. However, they’ll need to do so by moving some pieces and not spending much on the market.
So Red Sox Nation may be frustrated this offseason with the lack of spending, but that’s nothing new considering last year’s tumultuous winter and atrocious trade window. It was a mixed bag of reactions to J.D. Martinez choosing to remain with the Red Sox as it causes a headache for the beancounters. If he opted-out, that would’ve freed up a pretty pile of cash that could instantly be put into the Mookie Betts savings fund.
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That’s the endgame that the Red Sox are setting everything up for and that begins this winter. Think of it like the MCU, especially since I’ve already made an Endgame reference, re-signing Betts in free agency next winter is what everything is leading to. Chaim Bloom needs to gather up the Infinity Stones and snap his fingers to lock Mookie up for the next ten years. Alright, back to baseball.
FSG’s budget mandate came done the pipe after the Red Sox didn’t even sniff the playoffs after having the highest payroll in the business. When I saw that they wanted to hit the $208M mark the lightbulb went off instantly in my head that it was for 2021. If they can get below the CBT for 2020 then their penalties reset and they can back that Brinks truck up to Mookie’s house next winter.
This season is going to be painful, or at least it feels like we’re heading down that path. Bloom will do whatever he has to in order to appease his new bosses and get to that CBT marker. I can see some trades being made and promotions from within the organization to fill the gaps in the lineup. There’s a lot of dead weight if you break down the budget that I’m sure Bloom could package and send off to be someone else’s expense.
There isn’t a single argument against Betts being the greatest homegrown talent this franchise has ever seen. What he’s been able to do in such a short amount of time is insane. The fact that there have been rumors of shopping Mookie, especially now that Martinez is back, just makes my head hurt.
This upcoming season may be sacrificed in order to set up multiple years of success down the road. If the Red Sox need to slash payroll and sacrifice 2020 in order to re-sign Betts in 2021, then it will be worth it. Sacrificing this season’s budget with the greater good in mind may sound painful but having Mookie Betts in the lineup for his entire prime is a hell of a pain reliever.