I have a bit of a conundrum going on right now. The Red Sox have a TON of money left to spend this winter and they've already acquired an impact bat (Adrian Gonzalez) for prospects and only garnering 6 million in new salary towards this year's ballclub. The key to this theory is the fact that the Red Sox haven't officially announced the contract extension with Gonzalez and trust me, it's in place, you don't give away those prospects without knowing you're signing this guy. I have a theory that I know what the Red Sox are doing with the rest of the offseason.
With the recent rumors of Carlos Beltran becoming available and the Red Sox showing interest, in what would most likely be a bad contract Swap, in steps One Daisuke Matsuzaka. Beltran has one year 18.5 million remaining on his contract and the Mets are rumored to be offering 10 million in relief on that albatross and Matsuzaka has 2 years at 10 mil per. (Side Note: Marco Scutaro makes 5 million this year). The Mets need pitching like you read about with Santana out to start the season, (see Side Note) they also need a second baseman and this deal makes SO MUCH SENSE. Beltran is also open now to playing a corner and with his diminished range in the outfield playing Left in Fenway Park would be perfect. Matsuzaka's NL splits are more than adequate and you would fill 2 positional needs, 3 if you count getting rid of Beltran since the relationship has soured. This would fit everyone's needs more than effectively.
Before I go any further, I want to point out that the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox is in such a lull prior to this offseason that it was time to spark it back up. Enter Mariano Rivera. He was a free agent and the best closer available, and when the Yankees were offering only 1 year the Red Sox came in and tried to swoop in and bottle him up with more years. Loyalty prevailed, but you know this chafed Brian Cashman's behind. What is the Yankees most important need this offseason, and what could the Red Sox possibly do in order to really get up in the Steinbrenner's craw?
Cliff Lee has been offered a 7-year deal by a mystery team. According to Washington sources, it wasn't their club. The Yankees, have said they will NOT go farther than 6 years. The Rangers, I think, are going to look at getting younger and attempt to acquire Zack Greinke and will only go 5 years on Cliff Lee. This potential move, would not only give the Red Sox the best rotation in BASEBALL HISTORY, it will be almost impossible for the Yankees to overcome.
The Sox after factoring in Beltran (8-10 million dollar salary) and Gonzalez (6.1 million dollar salary), you're looking at 40 million or so left to spend. If you give Cliff Lee his 7th year you'll only have to sign him to a 20 million dollar annual salary and you'll still have 10 + million to spend on your bullpen which is in DIRE need of fixing, which is certainly attainable given the talent on the market and the funds you have left allotted for it.
This sounds far-fetched, but let's looks at the math. 178 million is the salary threshold you can get to without paying a luxury tax.
With all the retirements and dead money coming off the books you start with between 40 and 45 million dollars to spend.
Let's call it 45 for arguments sake.
45 (total) – 6 (approx Gonzo deal)=39 million
39 (total) – 8 (approx Beltran deal with salary relief)= 31 million
31 (total) – 20 (approx Lee Deal)= 11 million
11 million to fulfill bullpen needs.
The money works, all we need now is the nut sack to do it!
Stay Tuned
Ryan
No comments:
Post a Comment