BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox say the turmoil in the manager's office isn't a reason to give up on this season and trade outfielder Mookie Betts.
"The goal remains to be competitive always," Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom said this week after Alex Cora was ousted, leaving the Red Sox without a manager with less than a month before spring training. "2020 is important. So are 2021, 2022 and beyond."
The 2018 AL MVP, Betts has been the subject of trade rumors this winter because he is in the last year of team control before he is eligible to become a free agent. The two sides avoided arbitration and agreed to a one-year, $27 million contract for this season.
"He's the biggest person for our team, or one of the biggest," shortstop Xander Bogaerts said Thursday before the annual Boston Baseball Writers Awards Dinner. "We have a lot of veterans in this clubhouse to make another run. We've been through the good and we've been through the bad, and we're still here. We should have a great year again this year."
Although the Red Sox are one of baseball's biggest-spending clubs, owner John Henry has said he wants the team to get under the $208 million threshold for the collective bargaining tax. Going under the threshold for one year would lower the tax rate in future seasons.
Henry later clarified that resetting the team's luxury tax penalties is a goal, not a mandate. But the only way to do that would be to unload a high-salary player; Betts would be the most valuable trade bait but also difficult to give up -- unless they were looking at 2020 as a rebuilding year.
That's not the case, the team's brass insisted.
"We have high expectations in 2020," Red Sox President Sam Kennedy said. "We fell short last year, [but] ... we're better than an 84 win club. We think we have a team that's built to compete in the American League East."
Major League Baseball withheld Cora's punishment for his role in the Astros shenanigans until it had finished the investigation into Boston. But the Red Sox did not wait, saying on Tuesday that Cora could not effectively lead the team.
Cora admitted wrongdoing, apologized and went willingly, the Red Sox said. They would not comment on the terms of any financial settlement over the two years remaining on his contract.
Sports on 01/17/2020