Darvish = $10 million
Beltran = $13 million
Papelbon = $12.5 million

Check your math again..... +$45 million? Those 3 players would add only $35.5 million. Now subtract the contracts like the $5 million spent on Ross/Sweeney, Bailey contract, etc.

If you want to take out Beltran and Sox didn't do that terrible Bailey trade, the Sox would have Josh Reddick who is playing like an all-star with .280 avg and 9 home runs already. Now tell me that you prefer Sweeney over Josh Reddick!

And you are still adding all the Bailey, Ross, Sweeney, etc. contracts.

Who combined make a pittance compared to what you wanted to add.

Here's the numbers for you.

Ross - $3 million
Sweeney - $1.75 million
Bailey - $3.9 million

Total - $8.65 million

Darvish - $5.5 million/$9.33 million AAV for Luxury Tax calc.
Papelbon - $12.5 million
Beltran - $13 million

Total - $31 million/$34.833 million AAV.

So even subtracting the 3 players you listed the Sox would still be adding $26.183 million, all of it over the luxury tax which would in turn add another $10.47 million this year. That's still an additional $36.5 million they'd spend this year, on top of what is already the third highest payroll in the game. But of course when you ignore the dollars part of it and simply whine about wanting every and any player out there (not to mention living in a fantasy world where the players would have put up the exact same stats in Boston as they did elsewhere) everything becomes a lot more simplistic.

imagine if the sox signed and/or traded for everyone who is having a good year. We'd win the world series! and the owner's would take a half-billion dollar loss.

I said you can take out Beltran, Sweeney and Bailey out of the equation and kept Josh Reddick who looks like an all star right now.

And you think that was a good trade for the Sox?

Almost as good as Mark Melancon trade.

Do you know the difference between the Sox having a huge interest in a player in the offseason and "just grabbing every superstar"? $26 million for 2 years is a cheap deal when a player is putting up mvp calibur stats. Papelbon was in the Sox hands.

Did you see how the Sox spent like almost $400 million on just 3 players (crawford, a-gon and beckett) and people want to make an issue out of a cy young calibur SP, mvp calibur outfielder and a rolaids relief closer for like $30 million?

Wow, Reddick is off to a hot start. Not like any of us haven't seen that before. Oh wait, we have. And after he goes into his usual mid-season tailspin as pitchers stop tossing him fastballs and instead let him flail away at sliders and curveballs his average will drop like a stone just like it has in the past.

i think you are missing the point.... the red sox didn't pass on all those players because they can't evaluate talent. They passed because the money was outside of their budget. If the owner's have some dollar amount X they want to spend on the team, and signing players means your payroll is X + 25 million.... it ain't going to happen. Hence why you make a move like trading for Bailey so you have a closer instead of exceeding the budget to keep Papelbon.

Why aren't you upset that the Red Sox passed on pujols, if the team not picking up stars bothers you?

Another good budget example in terms you might better understand... if your mommy (The Owners) gave you $10 allowance, and a happy meal (a new right fielder) costs $4 but the new Spiderman (Papelbon) comic costs $7, you can't have both. So either you skip lunch and buy Spiderman (Papelbon), or you buy the Happy meal (new right fielder) and a comic that costs $6 or less (Bailey).

The A's got an all-star #3 hitter. The Sox got an often injured relief pitcher (I called it from day 1 that he will continue to get hurt) and an outfielder who has 1 home run power per season.

Look at my old post when the trade happened. I never wanted to get rid of Papelbon especially for Bailey.

And you are assuming that just because a player is cheaper that it is the right move?

Sox can spend nearly $400 million on 3 players (crawford, a-gon and beckett) and it is a smart spending according to the Sox and the fans but like $20-30 million per season for Cy Young calibur pitcher, mvp calibur (beltran) or all-star calibur (Reddick) and Rolaids award calibur Papelbon.

It is about spending wisely.... Not just whoever is cheaper is better option.

And I laughed when you said Bailey was a good move.... Lose an all star outfielder for a relief pitcher who can't even get on the field is a "good move"?

Because HRs are the be all and end all for an OFer. Right.

Do you want to compare Reddick's stats to Sweeney or Ross's stats?

His OPS is 100 points higher than Sweeney's. And he also has 15 more runs, 9 more home runs, 4 more steals, etc.

You are fooling yourself in thinking Sweeney is outproducing Josh Reddick.

And yet you're arguing with another poster in this thread about the value of Beltran for the team. So which is is you want, Beltran or Reddick on the team because they're kind of mutually exclusive.

You are confused. I said to you that since you are going crazy about $30 additional more to payroll and want to save money, take Beltran out of the equation and just keep Reddick. The difference between them is one is a superstar and the other is an all-star.

You would think after the Bedard debacle, the Sox would have avoided these often injured pitchers like Bailey.

if you were the A's, would you have signed Beltran instead of trading for reddick?

A's only have a $55 million team salary. The Red Sox can and will always spend money for talent. Their problem is that they don't know how to spend and they can blow nearly $400 million on 3 players.

i knew you'd come back with the payroll argument for oakland lol. since you were refusing to accept that argument for boston

why bother talking with our village idiot, he wanted lackey and look where it got us

$13 million for the A's is like 20% of their team salary. $13 million for the Sox is a blip. Please don't compare the Sox spending habits to the A's spending habits.

Anyways, I also said the Sox could have just kept Reddick to save money. Reddick isn't as good as Beltran but he is playing like an all-star and doing good job as the A's #3 hitter.

It is about spending wisely and spending on Darvish, Beltran and Papelbon is wisely spending. We can't have it both ways and spend $400 million on 3 players (a-gon, crawford and beckett) who failed to live up to their contracts and then say "Sox can't spend money".

If only they hadn't dumped so much coin into bums like Lackey and Crawfish.......