In the aftermath of the Sonny Gray trade, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made it clear that the team’s plan was to focus on upgrading an offense that saw Alex Bregman opt out of his contract and head back to free agency this winter (not to mention traded away Rafael Devers back in June). There’s been some talk of the club even signing multiple star bats to help fill out the lineup, pairing a reunion with Bregman with the addition of someone like Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber.
That could prove to be easier said than done, however, as a report from MassLive’s Sean McAdam suggests the Red Sox might not have that sort of room in the budget. According to McAdam, the Red Sox are willing to pass the luxury tax threshold as they did in 2025. With that being said, however, McAdam reports that doing so would leave the club “absorbing a moderate financial loss,” and that Boston is hesitant to spend beyond that level and incur bigger deficits.
Some fans will surely balk at the idea that one of the sport’s most valuable brands and franchises is operating at a loss, especially following an offseason where the team made an offer north of $700MM to Juan Soto. It’s easy to see why Soto specifically would be a player the team was willing to make an exception for based on his youth and incredible talent, but it’s also worth remembering that the books of the league and individual franchises are generally closed and not publicly available. That means claims of losses from most franchises and ownership groups cannot be independently verified.
Of course, whether fans take Boston’s claims about profitability at face value or not won’t change their short-term payroll plans. The Red Sox spent just under $245MM in 2025 for luxury tax purposes, according to RosterResource. Their projected luxury tax payroll for 2026 stands at $223MM. That means they have just $22MM left in payroll flexibility if they plan to spend at the same level they did last year. Of course, it should be noted that there could be at least some wiggle room within McAdam’s reporting. While he makes clear that the Red Sox won’t be floating a $300MM payroll on level with the Yankees, the second level of the luxury tax sits at $264MM this year. If the Red Sox simply want to stay under that second threshold, they’d have as much as $40MM in spending capacity this winter.
There’s other ways payroll could come down. The Red Sox would surely love to find a taker on Masataka Yoshida or Jordan Hicks. The pair will make a combined $30.5MM in 2026 for luxury tax purposes, and while rival clubs surely won’t be interested in absorbing all of that salary (at least without sending their own bad contract back in exchange), it’s not impossible that Breslow could trade one or both players with cash included in order to save a bit of money. Jarren Duran has been in trade rumors for years, and dealing him would offload the $7.7MM salary he’s owed for 2026.
Bregman, Alonso, and Schwarber are all predicted by MLBTR for an annual salary between $26MM and $28MM. Even if the Red Sox were willing to push right up against the second threshold of the luxury tax, adding two of those bats would be impossible without shedding significant salary elsewhere. If the Red Sox are committed to remaining around the $245MM mark in 2026, then even bringing in one of those bats is likely to require moving some salary. With that said, all indications point to the club being willing to take a big swing on at least one of the offseason’s top hitters.
Some lower level bats Boston has been connected to like Kazuma Okamoto ($16MM), J.T. Realmuto ($15MM), and Jorge Polanco ($14MM) are predicted for significant more affordable annual salaries, however. Adding one star player such as Bregman alongside a player like Polanco or Realmuto from the next tier down in free agency might be doable within the team’s apparent financial limitations, though even that would require some salary to be moved out if the club is going to avoid the second luxury tax threshold. Those pieces wouldn’t have the guaranteed impact of someone like Schwarber, but would still represent a significant on-paper improvement over internal options like Kristian Campbell and Connor Wong.
Perhaps there’s a trade candidate or two who could make sense for the Red Sox, allowing them to add a bat for a relatively small financial outlay and potentially move out salary in a trade. Brendan Donovan ($5.4MM), Ryan Jeffers ($6.6MM), and Alec Bohm ($10.3MM) are all projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for affordable arbitration salaries this year and placed in the top half of MLBTR’s Top 40 Trade Candidates list for the current offseason. Bringing one of those players into the mix would add a complementary bat to the lineup while still leaving ample room in the budget for a big swing at someone like Bregman or Alonso.
This article will bring the Red Sox haters out.
Ummm…Duran already signed for next year, no need to use somebody else’s 2026 projection of his salary.
In fact the signing was reported by a great website.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-avoid-arbitrati…
With that said, how sad is it the Hicks contract could prevent the huge need of a power bat from being filled.
I love Jeffers, but he’s not the slugger needed. And Bohm? Seriously?
The more they keep omitting Eugenio, the more I think he will be the signing.
FPG – I think you may be right, however, i think they could wait Suarez out until right up to ST in order to maybe get him on a one year high aav contract.
The M.O. of the front office has been that “they’re in” on everyone, who they don’t sign, and, the names of the people they are interested in are never mentioned.
As I sit here watching English Soccer, it makes me wonder if one of the Japanese players aren’t the real target in an effort to grow the brand and increase revenue world wide?
“If” RSox have sincere interest in Schwarber, throw his agent the walkaway offer to force Philly’s hand. The latter may be forced to decide whether trying to maybe outbid a couple other deep pocket teams for Tucker is worth landing neither.
How can they be so close to last year’s payroll when they don’t have Devers or Bregman?
1) They’re not, theyre $22M under it right now.
2) Youve already signed a pitcher
3) Only a third of Devers contract is in the payroll, the rest went to SF. Also, Red Sox had to take on a short-term bad contract to offset Dever’s bad contract.
4) Young players get raises, such as Duran
Two big extensions kick in. Last year, Crochet counted for about $3 mil and Anthony less than $1 mil toward the CBT levels. This year the extensions kick in–Crochet now counts for over $28 mil and Anthony for over $16 mil toward the CBT payroll, an increase together of more than $40 mil over last year.
Both, Crochet and Anthony counted the same last year as this year. $28.33M and $16.25M respectfully.
Another point, if you will: Anthony is only being paid around $3 mil this year, but the AAV over the life of his extension, in which he is being paid a LOT by the end, is $16.25 mil per year, so his actual payroll hit in 2026 is small compared to the AAV amount.
Imagine that Henry is cheapening out again even though their one of the most expensive teams in ticket and concessions
Now we’ll get to listen to all redsox fans cry and say they’re done with the team but will still watch and go to games proven that Henry’s way is working
You forgot they have one of the smallest capacities of any MLB stadium.
The idea the redsox are operating at a loss is laughable and further destroys Henry, Kennedy, and Co’s credibility with the fan base.
The only way that payroll leads to a loss is if youre factoring in mandatory distributions to the parent FSG and all the various equity funds and capital groups that bought in getting dividends, and, the Corners project getting money set aside, all as first priority before any other expense.
There’s absolutely team revenue that could be spent on players if all that other BS isnt getting priority treatment.
So, if they remove their other financial obligations, they could spend more on payroll? Wow, wish I had thought of that. Think of how much they could spend if they didn’t pay their taxes!
I love it when FSG tries to claim poor with the Red Sox. It’s hilarious. They are a literal cash cow. Reinvest that money in the team.
I also saw many, many people claiming that trading Devers will allow them to reinvest that money in another great bat. I’m not holding my breath on that one.
The Sox have a great young core, some great pitching prospects (finally), and they are still refusing to invest in the team. Now the off-season is young, but articles like this don’t exactly inspire confidence given the recent off-seasons.
Well said
This article is nothing but clickbait for haters
Always nice to read these articles over the Thanksgiving weekend. He said she said maybe yes maybe no whatever blah blah blah.
I have no rooting interest there, but I find it hard to believe their financial distress when they have one of the better local TV deals. Not to mention Red Sox nation supports them pretty well.
Hal Steinbrenner said something very similar earlier this week about the Yankees and their ‘financial constraints’.
This smacks of propaganda and positioning themselves for the upcoming collective bargaining next off season.
I’m waiting for the Dodgers to come out next and say something about how the sport has gotten too expensive for them.
It kinda felt like Yoshida turned it around at the end of the year, not sure if that’ll factor into their decisions on him. Surely, the dude helped my Fantasy team turn it around in playoffs after severely limping into it and getting to the finals. I’ll be a Yoshi lover from now on! lol.
Another winter of Alec Bohm trade talk? Replaced by who, Otto Kemp?