Thanks to the trade that sent Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week, the Boston Red Sox find themselves $250 million richer.
Time to make it rain this offseason, right?
Probably not, actually. The Red Sox have a ton of money to spend now that three of their most bloated contracts are off the books, but general manager Ben Cherington hit the nail on the head when he told WEEI (via ESPNBoston.com) that the amount of money he has to play with is no excuse to be reckless:
“It will be exciting to find ways to complement that core of talent (we currently have). We’ve got to be smart in doing it. We can’t just go and try to fill the void in one or two fell swoops. We’ve got to try to build a team and do it in a smart way and do it in a way that reflects what we believe in.”
Being smart involves making smart investments, sure, but it also means avoiding dumb investments. Such is what I know about business, anyway. And after what the Red Sox have been through in recent years, one assumes that Cherington and his staff know this as well as anyone.
So what moves should the Red Sox make this winter? Just as important, what moves shouldn’t they make?
That’s what we’re here to discuss, starting with the moves the club shouldn’t make.
Note: Stats and salary info come from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.