I don’t get it

Whatever the Red Sox plan here is, I don’t get it. They appear to be about $10 mil shy of the luxury tax threshold, which is probably their spending limit. Let’s assume, charitably, that they get this Matsuzaka deal done and it puts them at their limit. There’s no closer. There’s no reliable setup man. There’s no backup catcher (unless you think Kotteras is ready).

Despite all of these holes, they decided to go out and sign a 4th outfielder for $14 mil. An excellent one, of course, and one who will greatly improve their defense. But one that you would have to consider a luxury when you see all of their other unmet needs.

Now, if they gotten Brocktoon and traded Manny for some of these parts, it would have made a great deal of sense to me. But they didn’t trade Manny and their potential trading partners, especially the Dodgers, appear to have moved on. Why not sign Dave Dellucci instead, and use your leftover money on Gagne and/or Speir and/or Dotel?

Overall, so far, it looks like a bit of a mess. Maybe they have something up their sleeve that I’m not seeing. Maybe they’ve got a great trade worked out for Crisp or Wily Mo, but I’d have to think those guys have lousy trade values right now. They had a plan last year when they let their CF go (a good plan, I think), so maybe this year will be the same. Hard to have much faith, the way things have worked out lately.