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By Joey Copponi
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Boston Red Sox are set to be a better team in 2025 than they were in 2024. With two meaningful additions to their rotation in Garret Crochet and Walker Buehler, plus the returns of Lucas Giolito and eventually Patrick Sandoval, their starting pitching has vastly improved.
But with Crochet arriving in Boston via trade with no extension in sight yet, and Buehler signing a one-year contract, there is one thing the Red Sox have continued to avoid doing: spending money.
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"Maybe that's what January and February are for: the Red Sox to stop acting like a team with the 13th-highest payroll in MLB and start acting like the Boston Red Sox, who until the COVID-19 pandemic never had an opening day payroll lower than sixth in baseball this century," wrote Jeff Passan of ESPN. "Twice they were first, eight times second. During those years, it's no coincidence that Boston won four World Series."
In 2023, the Red Sox gave third baseman Rafael Devers an 11-year extension totaling $331 million, the largest contract in Red Sox history. But after trading Mookie Betts, and losing Xander Bogaerts in free agency, Boston's front office had its back against the wall and risked losing all three of its franchise players in a very short span. The Red Sox's largest free agent contract of the 2023 offseason was just a $90 million five-year deal with Masataka Yoshida.
The trend dates back to the transition of power from Dave Dombrowski to Chaim Bloom, signaling a clear change in philosophy from ownership. But as Chaim Bloom's reign as chief baseball officer gave way to Craig Breslow's, Red Sox fans expected to see ownership's financial commitment reemerge. That has yet to be the case.
"Perhaps (Alex) Bregman is the move," Passan wrote. "He's the best player still available. He'd rake at Fenway Park. He's the sort of leader that clubhouse could use. But it's the Red Sox. And their benefit of the doubt on spending long ago expired."
Bregman has been projected to fetch anywhere from $150-200 million this offseason, with multiple reports stating that he is seeking a deal north of $200 million. Are the Red Sox's owners willing to spend the money necessary to field a team with World Series aspirations, and perhaps equally importantly, the money necessary to rewrite the narrative around the owners themselves?
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