Show Me The Money by Jared Carrabis
Red Sox payroll dips even lower, talent remains the same


You may say it's the economy, I say it's Theo's genius mind at work.

When the Red Sox take the field on Opening Day, the payroll of the local nine will be at its lowest since the 2003 season; a season that featured the likes of Manny Ramirez ($20 million), Pedro Martinez ($15.5 million) and Nomar Garciaprra ($11 million) still on the books. Last season, the Red Sox dipped to the fourth highest payroll in baseball after dishing out a total of $133 million to the Opening Day roster.

With Manny's monster contract coming off the books, Curt Schilling's phantom one-year, $8 million deal lost in retirement and many homegrown players coming at an affordable cost, the Red Sox Opening Day payroll figures to be somewhere under $120 million. Of course that figure could change if the Red Sox were to make a trade, but as it stands today, the Red Sox will enter the 2009 season with the sixth highest payroll in Major League Baseball.

Of course this drop in payroll would not have been at all possible if it weren't for the bargain shopping that the Red Sox front office did all winter long.

John Smoltz made $14 million with the Atlanta Braves in 2008; the Red Sox reeled in the big game pitcher for $5.5 million. Brad Penny was paid $9.25 million in 2008 by the Los Angeles Dodgers; the two-time National League All Star likely will join a strong Boston rotation for $5 million. Often coming out of the bullpen after a Brad Penny start in 2008 was Takashi Saito for $2 million; he will continue to do so in a Red Sox uniform for $1.5 million.

Red Sox captain, Jason Varitek, earned $10 million annually from '05-'08; in 2009, the captain will make half of that money with a $5 million paycheck. Had the Red Sox held on to Josh Bard as Varitek's backup catcher, Bard would have earned himself $1.6 million. However, Bard was cut due to his inability to catch Tim Wakefield's knuckleball. The backup catcher's role will now go to George Kottaras, who will make $400K in 2009.

Thanks in part to a masterful offseason put together by the Red Sox front office, Boston will come nowhere near the $162 million line where luxury tax is slapped on teams like the $862 billion (exaggeration) New York Yankees. Believe it or not, the Red Sox are now closer to the Tampa Bay Rays in terms of payroll than they are to the New York Yankees. I guess that's what happens when one team spends wisely and the other spends wildly.

In 2006, the Red Sox became the team with the highest payroll to miss the playoffs; in 2008, the Yankees took the thrown in that department and set the bar high for any other team that breaks bank, but fails to reach October.

It is clear that the Red Sox have cut back on their spending, but in no way have they cut back on their chances of winning another World Series title. Theo Epstein has brought on board a handful of key ingredients for another championship team, and in a division like the AL East, each piece is more valuable than the next.

Although the Red Sox may have missed out on the opportunity to sign free agent prize, Mark Teixeira, Boston has countered their missing out on bolstering their offense by compiling a lethal pitching staff, complete with a lights out bullpen. As it stands right now, the Red Sox have seven worthy pitchers for just five spots in the rotation. However, as we have seen in recent years, you can never have enough pitching. Seven pitchers can turn into four pitchers in the blink of an eye.

With Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Daisuke Matsuzaka ready to headline the Red Sox rotation, the rest of the Boston arms are pleading their case for the final two rotation spots. Whether it be Clay Buchholz and his team leading 0.46 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched, Brad Penny tossing three scoreless innings, while striking out three, or could it be the veteran, Tim Wakefield, who fluttered his way through 5.2 innings of one-run baseball, or lastly, could it be John Smoltz, who threw a 40-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday for the first time since going under the knife.

It will be interesting to see how all of these arms fit into the Red Sox pitching staff. If it were up to me, since Smoltz can't join the rotation until June anyway, the fourth spot goes to Brad Penny and the fifth slot has been earned by Clay Buchholz. Tim Wakefield has pitched out of the bullpen before, why can't he do it again? He would be especially affective in a game where Brad Penny has been throwing in the high 90's, then hitters would have to adjust to a zig-zagging knuckleball. Just my opinion.

While the final two spots in the rotation remain unknown at the moment, the two-time World Baseball Classic MVP, Daisuke Matsuzaka, will likely find himself pitching in the third slot of Boston's rotation. On Friday morning, Matsuzaka threw a 54-pitch bullpen session for the first time since returning back to the Red Sox after participating in his second WBC tournament. Although he didn't show great command in his side session, the Red Sox still project him to be ready for the regular season. He will likely start in a spring training game at some point next week.

Also returning to camp on Friday was Red Sox shortstop, Julio Lugo. Lugo hopes to resume baseball activities as soon as he gets cleared by team doctors. If all goes according to plan, Lugo will be ready for game action by mid-April after a full recovery from knee surgery.

Keeping up with old friends:

As I reported on Wednesday, Trot Nixon's future with the Milwaukee Brewers was in jeopardy after a rough showing during spring training. As it turns out, the original dirt dog was officially released by the Brewers organization on Wednesday. I had a few emails asking if it would be at all possible for Nixon to return to Boston to retire here, but that scenario has slim to no chance of happening with the likes of Chris Carter, Brad Wilkerson, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay already serving as backup outfielders in Boston. Once again, Red Sox fans wish Trot well in his search for a Major League job in 2009.

On a positive note, former Red Sox legend, Oil Can Boyd is still at it. The 49-year-old right-hander, who made his Major League debut with the Red Sox on September 13, 1982, is hoping to pitch in the Can-Am Baseball League in Ottawa. It's easy to see that this man just loves the game of baseball, maybe not as much as Bill Lee, but pretty damn close.

A report coming out of Kansas City said that Pedro Martinez reached out to the Kansas City Royals not long before Sidney Ponson inked a deal with the AL Central squad. While Pedro is still asking for a contract in the $5 million range, Martinez will likely not spark much interest from other clubs, including the Dodgers, unless he drops his asking price to somewhere around $1-2 million.

This is Jared Carrabis signing off saying, "Ten days until Opening Day!"

Published on March 27, 2009

---

Tweet