Damn you, Speier

nattysez

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 30, 2010
8,434
Well, crap.

--- everything below here was written based on a since-deleted tweet by Alex Speier that said that the Sale deal started at $30mm this year and would push the Sox above the cap, hence the revised thread title --


It's now been reported that the Sox are going to blow through the highest lux tax cap thanks to the Sale deal. I have three questions:

(1) Does this essentially mean they are paying a 40% kicker on all their contracts for the foreseeable future if they re-sign Mookie? Am I right that it's hard to imagine how they'll ever get back under the cap anytime soon?
(Edit: Some numbers: Sale+Price+JD = $86m next year and $81m in 2021. If you bring back Mookie at any kind of reasonable deal, you'll be paying $110m for four players each of those years. The cap is $208m and $210m those years).

(2) If they knew that they were likely going to extend Sale or Mookie this off-season (it's not too late to extend both!), why were they scrimping and saving on relievers earlier? Do they just think spending on relievers is not worthwhile?

(3) If they're already blowing through the cap, does it make sense to sign Kimbrel to 1/$20 and just go for it? Hell, maybe sign Keuchel while they're at it?
 
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InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,759
Pittsburgh, PA
Here's the tweet you just linked to:


Well, this is unexpected. Correction on Sale deal: It is NOT, according to a source, incorporating 2019. The team will NOT be flying past tier three with this deal. Deal will be announced as five-year, $145M, running from 2020-24. AAV will be below $29M with deferrals
So,

1A) No.
1B) Maybe.
2) Each deal or non-deal is specific to the context under which they were bidding for services
3) Maybe. It's not my money.