How the Red Sox Got Their Groove Back

And once you get past the eye-popping sums of money being thrown around, the Sox’s big-ticket acquisitions actually fit quite nicely into the team’s reigning philosophy. Yes, $14 million a year for five years of J. D. Drew is a lot, especially compared with the $13 million per year that Johnny Damon is making for the next three seasons. But Drew also has the sixth highest on-base percentage of any player over the past three years—higher than both Manny and Ortiz—and is, at least according to Bill James (a guy who knows a thing or three about baseball), the best defensive outfielder in the game. As for Dice-K, Boston’s newest $100 million man, he’s exactly the type of guy the Henry-Werner Red Sox have always lusted after: a 26-year-old stud who should be entering the prime of his career. (When Pedro got his $90 million deal, plenty of people thought that was a big risk, as well…and that didn’t work out all that badly.) And by the way, the Sox can afford his steep price tag precisely because they’re also stocked with guys like Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, Manny Delcarmen, and Craig Hansen, who combined made less than $2 million last year. Even if all these moves blow up in the team’s face, they’re the types of risks that make sense…unlike, say, the $55 million the Royals shelled out for Gil Meche, a mediocre (at best) starter who’s had an ERA above 5.00 in two of the past three seasons.

After three years in which the Sox’s payroll stayed between $120 million and $130 million, the ’07 team will cost upward of $150 million; the Yankees, meanwhile, will see their payroll drop for the second year in a row. There’s still tens of millions of dollars separating the two teams—certainly nothing to sneeze at—but it’s getting harder and harder for the Sox to cry poverty when explaining why they didn’t make this or that move. All it took was one World Series win for the Fenway Faithful’s mindset to shift from one that always expected disaster to one that felt entitled to perpetual success, and fielding what’s arguably the hardest-hitting lineup and most hyped rotation in the game isn’t exactly going to lessen the pressure to win. Buckle up, kids. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be a helluva ride. At least now it looks like the folks in the driver’s seat are all headed in the same direction.