Last season the Red Sox spent more than $20 million less on their payroll than they did in 2007. With the current economic climate the team does not have the income it had two years ago. NESN viewership is down meaning ad revenue is down. In addition John Henry’s hedge fund is hemorrhaging money, so much so that he had to lay off a quarter of his staff. He has entered into other areas like Nascar but money is even tighter there. The Mark Teixeira negotiations may not have been a simple outmaneuvering by the Yanks; it is possible that the Red Sox just don’t have the money to get the players they want. Jason Bay and Matt Holliday are good players but they are not league MVP’s. If the Sox overspend on one of them they may be handcuffed in the future. Look at how long Boston tried to get out from under Manny’s contract. Going long term on a high priced player carries a huge amount of risk and sometimes options even come back to haunt teams (didn’t take Manny long to exercise his option with LA did it?).
The Yankees and Mets will be in on Bay and Holliday driving up the price. How high will the Red Sox be willing to go? Can they afford to land either of them? Can they afford not to? Theo does not have a blank check to spend this offseason so he will have to work some magic.
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