Paying David Price was the easy part of Dave Dombrowski’s offseason
COMMENTARY
Whether you love or hate the Boston Red Sox’ impending marriage with pitcher David Price — and there is good reason for both — there’s little debate that the team has strengthened its greatest vulnerability by going out and getting the ace that they insisted they didn’t need fewer than 365 days ago.
Now that Dave Dombrowski has gone and dedicated $217 million of owner John Henry’s cash flow to the former Rays, Tigers, and Blue Jays lefty, thus cementing the top half of Boston’s rotation beyond wild card underachievers Clay Buchholz and Rick Porcello, the Red Sox president has surveyed his work this offseason and deemed it nearing completion.
‘‘I think our major moves are done,’’ Dombrowski said on a conference call Tuesday intended to introduce new fourth outfielder Chris Young. “But when you go into the winter meetings, you never know what happens.’’
Take that as foreshadowing if you will, but the Red Sox, as currently constituted, indeed won’t look the same when the team convenes in Fort Myers, Fla. come February. In a perfect world, Dombrowski and general manager Mike Hazen (remember him?) would find takers for outfielder/first baseman/headache extraordinaire Hanley Ramirez, third baseman Pablo Sandoval, and Buchholz. They may look to add another arm to the rotation via the flea market table of free agency or trade, as well as somebody to play first in the event they can unload Ramirez and don’t see Travis Shaw as the solution.
Other than expecting Dombrowski to come home from Nashville with another high-priced free agent in the form of Zack Greinke or Chris Davis, little else is off the table beginning Sunday, the official start of baseball’s Winter Meetings. The Red Sox have every right to walk into discussions with a swagger, the re-defining kings of the hot stove season thus far, with their focus freed from a singular obsession like Price, perhaps making it easier to snooker somebody on Ramirez and see what the market might be for a guy like Wade Miley.
Pitching should still be atop the Red Sox’ wish list, but dealing a 200-inning guy with an affordable contract (two years, $15 million with a $12 million option for 2018) like Miley may help inject some needed depth into the farm system, replenishing what the franchise may have lost on the Craig Kimbrel deal with the San Diego Padres. Then again, Miley’s value as a No. 5 starter can’t be discounted in Boston, which may want to hang onto his innings, not to mention his affordable salary in the likely anticipation that Dombrowski will need to cut his payroll.
As it stands now, the Red Sox look to have a $215 million roster. Yikes.
As the Globe’s Alex Speier points out, “that mark would blow past the team record and come with a tidy tax bill. According to multiple major league sources, the Red Sox are expected to exceed the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2015 – which means that not only will they be taxed on the overage at 17.5 percent, but they’ll also have to pay a steeper penalty of 30 percent for any money spent beyond $189 million in 2016. If they end up with a $215 million payroll, they’d end up paying about another $9 million in luxury taxes – a total layout of approximately $224 million.’’
It’s not the record $273 million the Los Angeles Dodgers entered last season with, but it’s a stratosphere where the Red Sox would certainly not rather find themselves.
Thus, getting rid of a chunk of Ramirez’s $22 million salary (Los Angeles Angels?) for 2015 is an imperative mission for Dombrowski and Hazen next week in Nashville. Ramirez, Porcello, and Sandoval are slated to make a total of $59 million next season, a ghastly promise considering the less-than-stellar returns in 2015.
If Dombrowski does the near-impossible (Psst, Dave. Tell Magic Johnson you’ll meet him at the racquetball court to talk shop) and unloads all three, that still gives him a solid chunk of change to work with in order to fill out the starting rotation with a No. 2 to slot behind Price. Buchholz and his $13 million could be jettisoned in exchange for a bullpen arm or secondary prospect as well, and Dombrowski could sell high on lefty Henry Owens, who perhaps along with Jackie Bradley, Jr., might be enough of a package to entice a team to surrender putting of its own (Shelby Miller?).
Some intriguing names will remain on the free agent front as well, including Doug Fister, looking for a rebound campaign after finding himself in the Washington Nationals bullpen at the tail end of last season. He’s also a player Dombrowski traded for in 2011, sending Francisco Martinez, Charlie Furbush and Casper Wells to the Seattle Mariners. He then traded him away two years later to the Nationals for Ian Krol, Steve Lombardozzi and Robbie Ray.
If you get the 2014 Fister (16-6, 2.41 ERA) at a reduced rate (Yahoo! only has him ranked as the 45th-best free agent on the market this winter) on the $100 million deal the hurler probably hoped to sign in free agency, he’d look stellar behind Price, giving the Sox a 3-4-5 of Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Miley, shifting Joe Kelly to the bullpen. Fister averaged 13 wins a season from 2011-14 with a 3.11 ERA. The 31-year-old was 8-1 for the Detroit Tigers down the stretch in 2013, while the Red Sox received a wild card worth of outings from its midseason acquisition in Jake Peavy. Foster also pitched one game against the Red Sox in that fall’s ALCS and got the win after six inning pitched and one run allowed.
There are others, of course. According to Jon Heyman, Cliff Lee received medical clearance on Thursday, and will pitch in 2016 if anyone wants him. There’s Jeff Samardzija. Scott Kazmir. Mike Leake. Wei-Yin Chen. John Lackey (just kidding). But without subtraction, there’s less chance of addition. In Kimbrel and Price, Boston has already added $41 million in salary for 2015. Without finding a taker for Ramirez and/or Sandoval, it’s going to take a lot of chipping away at the books to get salary down to a more manageable level.
“I feel good about the roster as it is,’’ Dombrowski said. “I think we’ve been able to address really our biggest needs.’’
But not all of them. There are still some “For Sale’’ signs to put out, hoping somebody will be desperate enough to bite.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur
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