Boston Red Sox: Five free-agents who must be avoided

These five free-agents should be avoided by the Boston Red Sox.

The Boston Red Sox have their work cut out for them in order to upgrade a roster that finished at the bottom of their division this year. The clearest path to talent is the free-agent market and Boston should have money to spend after resetting the luxury tax penalties.

Free agency is a buyer beware market though. Most players hit free agency when they are already in their prime, perhaps even at the tail end of it. They expect to be paid based on what they’ve already accomplished rather than what we can expect from them moving forward. That often makes free-agents a bad investment.

It’s a risky path but sometimes a necessary one. The Red Sox have few major league-ready prospects who can step in to fill a key role next season and their thin farm system doesn’t have the assets to rely heavily on trades to fix their problems.

Exploring free agency will be a significant part of the offseason process but the Red Sox shouldn’t spend money for the sake of it. Spending should be done wisely with long-term ramifications in mind, not as a way to convince their fans that last year’s frugal ways were only temporary.

With that in mind, these five free-agents present risks that should caution the Red Sox against targeting them this winter.