Cheap Sox

BY KEVIN KERNAN

The Red Sox are on the free agent clock.

No team is facing the wrath of its fan base like the Red Sox are facing this off-season. Simply because Red Sox ownership has lied to its fans, and this is an ownership that has more money than most teams yet does not spend cash with the big boys.

It’s one thing to finish in last place as the Pirates, one of the cheapest of all major league teams, it is quite another to finish 13 games back in third place in a down year for the American League for a team that has such a devoted fan base as the Red Sox; a fan base John Henry, Tom Werner & Co. have totally disrespected by not spending money to keep up with the Yankees.

These Red Sox are in the same mental place as the Red Sox teams of the 1950s. Those Red Sox never finished higher than third place. Way back in 1918 they won the World Series but did not appear in another World Series until 1946. They lost. Same thing happened in 1967, 1975 and 1986. These Red Sox are in a pre-2004 Curse of the Bambino mindset.

Red Sox fans have more than paid their dues.

“The plan is to spend money,’’ a Red Sox official told BallNine.

That is a good plan because there is so much at stake for the Red Sox – and let’s face it, the American League is not the league it once was – and the AL East is not the division it once was when the Red Sox shattered the curse in 2004.

That is a good plan because there is so much at stake for the Red Sox – and let’s face it, the American League is not the league it once was – and the AL East is not the division it once was when the Red Sox shattered the curse in 2004.

There is even happy talk from the Red Sox that they can land Juan Soto, the most coveted of all free agents. David Ortiz thinks it is a possibility, and he has a strong relationship with Soto. This is the ultimate money talks free agent situation. The signs point to Soto going to the Mets and their richest of owners, Steve Cohen, so if the Red Sox were to steal Soto away from the Mets it would take quite a payload.

The Red Sox have the cash, but do they have the will to spend it on Soto? The Yankees say they are in the Soto race, but I found it quite telling that he was quizzing them in their meeting about overall player development. He was with the Yankees the entire year and went to the World Series with them but something about player development was on his mind.

The Red Sox insist they have a wave of young position talent coming with top prospects: catcher Kyle Teel, outfielders Roman Anthony and Branden Montgomery, shortstop Marcelo Mayer and utility Kristian Campbell. Soto wants an organization that not only has talent but can develop talent.

And by landing Soto they would put a dagger into the Yankees, who are coming off the high of winning their first AL pennant since 2009 and the low of not really showing up in the World Series, losing to the Dodgers in five games.

Have the Red Sox learned from the error of their ways? I’ll believe it when I see it.

But here is the massive problem for the Red Sox. If they don’t spend money, if they don’t make a big splash, if the Red Sox keep talking about the future and the prospects in the organization, they are in danger of being blown out of the water by the Yankees and Orioles and they are in danger of setting the franchise back to the bad old days.

The Red Sox did not want to spend the money on one of their own, Mookie Betts and that move has come back to haunt them. Mookie has won two World Series with the Dodgers, this October and in 2020, a Manfred Fake Season that should not count for anything.

Have the Red Sox learned from the error of their ways?

I’ll believe it when I see it.

You see I’m a little bit more skeptical than your average baseball writer because I was in San Diego in 1990 when Tom Werner was the leader of the Gang of 15 who purchased the Padres and essentially ran that franchise into the ground. They went from contenders in 1989, before the Werner Group purchase, to the Werner Group Firesale Padres of 1993, a team that finished 43 games out of first place. Then came along a new owner.

Now, to be fair, Werner does have those four World Series rings with the Red Sox, 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018 but there are quite a few last place finishes in there as well. And remember last off-season when Werner spoke these words: “We know that we have to be competitive next year. So, we’re going to be competitive next year. We’re going to have to be full-throttle in every possible way.’’

The Red Sox were just the opposite.

In 2024 they finished 13 games behind the Yankees, a distant third place. The two previous seasons they finished in last place and since the 2020 season have finished in last in the AL East three times.

Full throttle.

If that’s full throttle, I’d hate to see what half-throttle is in Boston.

I’m not saying the Red Sox must land Juan Soto. I completely understand all the factors in play here including my old friend Scott Boras, who knows how to play an ace hand. Soto, I’m sure, will make his final decision at the Winter Meetings where Scott can be the center of attention.

One of the things I have admired about Boras from Day One when I first met him in 1988 was that he was never afraid to spend money to make money. He created a corporation when other agents were just agents.

While other agents worked in the shadows at major league ballparks, Scott Boras was smart enough to open offices right at the ballpark, right behind home plate where the baseball world would come to him and his battalion of Boras Corporation workers. At Dodger Stadium, it is a ritual for writers who have a strong relationship with Boras, to meet him behind home plate and talk shop. The writers are on the field of play during batting practice and Scott is in his front row office on the other side of the screen.

Other than Dodger Dogs and talking to Vin Scully, it was my favorite thing to do at Dodger Stadium. I never walked away from that conversation without the groundwork for a future scoop. Invariably, a line of players would also make the pilgrimage to see Boras.

Boras Corporation spent the money to have the best seats in the house and the same was true at the Angels. You can often see Boras in his suite during games. It’s pure Boras’ genius.

I say all this because even though everyone is tired of the dog and pony Soto Show and we haven’t even gotten to Thanksgiving, Scott will play this out to the finish where he can get the most money for his client, the most media coverage and then set up maneuverings for other clients making them available to teams who lost out in the Soto Sweepstakes.

The Red Sox are feeling the pain of losing Mookie Betts and one way to counter that would be to sign Soto. Soto is only 26. Betts is 32. The Red Sox could spin it that it was tough to lose Betts but for right now they have the younger talented player.

The AL East is a two-team division. The Blue Jays remain the most over-hyped front office in all of baseball, and that is saying something. The poor Rays are in for a long haul of mediocrity at best because they lost their ballpark, will be playing in the Yankees Class A ballpark for the near future, and have to pay the Yankees for that privilege. The Rays dream of a new ballpark is on hold, the future looks dark for the Rays. They might be better off just picking up stakes and moving onto a greener MLB pasture like Nashville or Portland, if either of those moves are possible. So, from a baseball standpoint, the Rays are finished. That is a franchise where everything has to go right just to compete – and now everything is going terribly wrong.

The Orioles don’t know how to take advantage of their young talent and quite frankly, that talent did not develop as much as it should have last season. The Orioles make many fundamental mistakes – just like the Yankees – and they are losing big pieces in free agents Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander.

The Red Sox need pitching and need to add a Burnes or a Blake Snell, Snell would be a fascinating signing because he knows the AL East quite well and is lefty; the Yankees struggle against lefties. In 2024 the Yankees batted .235 vs. left-handers. In the postseason they hit just .193 against lefties. Another interesting free agent addition for the Red Sox would be left-handed reliever Tanner Scott. Here is one more number to consider. The Yankees were only 26-26 vs. the AL East. They finished 13 games ahead of the Red Sox but in the AL East the Yankees were only a .500 club.

Both the Yankees and Red Sox have an intriguing free agent season in front of them. Neither may get Juan Soto, but the other moves made could decide the division. This is not just a fight for Juan Soto, this is a fight to see which team can put together the most complete roster and big money will have to be spent.

I would love to see the Red Sox get back in the fight. The AL East is that much more interesting when the Red Sox and Yankees are slugging it out. There was no more an intense rivalry in sports than the Yankees and Red Sox back in the days of 2003-04. Both teams spent money. Both teams went Full Throttle.

The Orioles vs. the Yankees is a nice little sideshow but it did not come close to matching the intensity of Red Sox vs. Yankees in their heyday. Juan Soto is a most intriguing piece to the puzzle but if Soto goes to the Mets, the Yankees and Red Sox can regain the flame that once burned in their rivalry.

To do that, though, the Red Sox have to get back to spending cash like the Cash Cow they became for John Henry and Tom Werner.

No more Cheap Sox. Get back to being the Rivalry Sox.