Red Sox have done little to improve

December 07, 2011|By Tony Massarotti, Globe Columnist, Globe Staff

By Tony Massarotti, Globe Columnist

The Red Sox have been making decisions, from Jonathan Papelbon and Bobby Valentine to David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek. And yet, more than two months after the calamitous end to the 2011 season and with the holiday season upon us, a most obvious question remains.

What have the Red Sox done thus far to improve?

Video: Winter Meetings Day 1 recap | Day 2 recap Of course, more than two months still remain before the start of spring training, so there is ample time for the new duo of Cherington and Valentine to begin putting their fingerprints on the 2012 Red Sox. Nonetheless, the truth is that the Red Sox of today have more questions than they ended the season with, a reality that should drain more confidence from an already hemorrhaging fan base.

Now there is increasing talk of the Red Sox' unwillingness to go beyond the $178 million tax threshold, a restriction (if it is true) that seems to explain why the Red Sox have dragged their feet and rearranged the furniture through a laborious offseason.

Since all things start with payroll, we did the math. Adding in Ortiz and estimating salaries where necessary - Jacoby Ellsbury, for example, is eligible for arbitration - the Red Sox already have between $170-$175 million committed under the formula to calculate luxury tax payroll. (You'll have to take our word on this.) That leaves little or no room to address the team's primary area of need - read: pitching - without shuttling some payroll from the big league roster.

Know what that likely means? That the Red Sox aren't really in on someone like Mark Buehrle and they never were. (Let's hope we're proven wrong about this.) It also means that the weight of the Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford acquisitions are being felt now, particularly with regard to Gonzalez' impact on the payroll.

Last year, remember, Gonzalez was on the books for a paltry $5.5 million. The Red Sox announced his seven-year, $154 million contract extension after Opening Day so as manipulate the accounting ledger. The downside is that the bill is coming due now, with Gonzalez' luxury tax number increasing from $5.5 million to a whopping $22 million, a jump of precisely $16.5 million.

Meanwhile, the luxury tax number for Clay Buchholz will jump from roughly $550,000 to $7.5 million, an increase of approximately $7 million. Add it all up and it means the Red Sox essentially spent the money they saved from J.D. Drew ($14 million) and Papelbon ($12.5 million) before the offseason even began.

Ugh.

And now, with Ortiz seemingly destined to come back, the Sox essentially lose whatever payroll flexibility they had left, at least if you hold them to the alleged $178 million ceiling.