The Red Sox appear to be doing everything they can to keep the core of last season’s World Series Team intact. The only departures in the off-season were relivers Joe kelly and Craig Kimbrel…and technically, Kimbrel hasn’t signed elsewhere, so that door hasn’t officially closed yet.
The recent trend in baseball is for teams to re-sign their players to extensions in advance of free agency. The Rockies re-upped Nolan Arenado; the Angels re-upped Mike Trout, making him the highest paid athlete in sports…and The Sox themselves have already taken care of their Ace lefty, Chris Sale, a full year before he was due to hit the free agent market.
The Sox have done it again, signing their shortstop Xander Bogaerts , to a 6yr/120M extension beginning at the end of this season. in total, including this year, the entire package is worth 132M, with an opt out clause after the 2022 season. The Sox now have three fifths of their rotation under team control through 2022, as well as JD Martinez, and now Bogaerts…although Martinez has an opt out clause at the end of this season.
The final piece of their core is Mookie Betts, who hits free agency after the 2020 season. With many of his teammates re-signed, this could be a terrific strategy to lure the defending AL MVP in a Red Sox uniform for many years to come. Even though Sale, Bogaerts, David Price, Nathan Eovaldi, and J.D. Martinez, (if he doesn’t opt out) will cost the Sox $123 million in 2020, the teams’ total payroll currently only projects to be $159 million. Even if Betts doesn’t sign a long term deal, he stands to earn $25 million in 2020 through arbitration, which will put the Red Sox at $184 million.
Although the Sox appear to be spending like drunken sailors, they are showing some financial restraint, and will probably stay in this 235M-240M range, right at the luxury tax threshold. By all accounts this seems to be the end of the line for Rick Porcello, who stands to also earn $15-20 million next season in free agency, (his current deal was 4yr/$80 million.)
I can’t shake the notion that this could all be a grand movement, in an attempt to sell the team at its absolute peak value. Owner John Henry is at his core a businessman. Sure, he loves baseball….but he loves money more. The team has now won four World Series on his watch. There is no way the team can be any hotter or more valuable.
Henry made his money in the stock market, where the old adage of Buy Low/Sell High couldn’t be more applicable. What better way to sell a product than at its most marketable, and what better way to ensure that marketability than to lock up your most desirable pieces.
Securing a terrific nucleus through 2022 with at least four World Series titles will guarantee maximum return on Henry’s investment. Henry paid 700M for the team back in 2001: the team is now worth over $3 billion, a return of over 400%.
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