But this isn’t a simple case of passing the buck. The 2018-19 off-season promises perhaps the biggest free agent class ever. It’s such a promising offseason that I can remember hearing about it three or four years ago, which, when you think about it, is ridiculous. Still, there’s a reason for the extreme foresight. In case you’re unaware of the specifics of this class, here is a list of players who will hit the open market after this upcoming season.

• Josh Donaldson
• Charlie Blackmon
• Drew Pomeranz
• Elvis Andrus
• Brian Dozier
• Andrew Miller
• Craig Kimbrel
• A.J. Pollock
• Daniel Murphy
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Gio Gonzalez
• Andrew McCutchen
• Nelson Cruz
• Zach Britton
• Cody Allen
• Adam Jones

Pretty nuts, right? And here’s the part about it that is crazy, bizarro, extreme, Vince-McMahon-rebooting-the-XFL-level nuts: that’s not really the list. Sure, all those guys are going to be free agents after the 2018 season, but I didn’t include three guys of particular note. I’m talking about Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Clayton Kershaw. Those three guys are the reason people have been talking about this free agent class for half a decade.

Those are some huge names, some huge players. The thing is, in the case of the first two, both will be 26 years old in 2019 — the first year of their new contracts. Not since Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers as a 25-year-old-to be in 2001 have we seen a player with this level of talent enter the market at such a young age. This free agent class has two of those guys. Oh, and also the best pitcher since Pedro Martinez in Kershaw. It’s truly a stacked class, and teams have been planning for it since fans became aware of it, or maybe even before that.

We’re 400 words into this thing and I haven’t yet brought up the Boston Red Sox which is odd since this is a Boston Red Sox website. Like every other team, the Red Sox are aware of this class of players. Like every other team, the Red Sox would love to have many of those players. The luxury tax is preventing that from happening. The total salary expenditure that teams must be below is $197 million. After that, penalties aplenty are levied, which increase each season teams that are over. The Red Sox kept below the luxury tax threshold last season, meaning if they go over this season the penalties aren’t too steep.

Like every other team, the Red Sox would love to have many of those players. The luxury tax is preventing that from happening.

With arbitration raises though last season’s payroll has gone up even though the roster is basically the same, putting the Red Sox over the threshold in 2018. Signing Bryce Harper or Clayton Kershaw would certainly put the Sox over again in 2019 and, considering they’d likely have to put a huge AAV towards doing so, it would contribute to putting them over again in 2020 as well. Should the Red Sox go far over they could lose their first round draft pick in addition to paying a ton of extra money as a tax for spending so much (seriously, players union, WTF?).

The effect of this on the Red Sox is to incentivize them to spend below the tax threshold. The Red Sox already have $92 million locked up in player salaries for the 2019 season, and that’s for just four guys in David Price, Dustin Pedroia, Rick Porcello, and Mitch Moreland. (They’re paying $18.45 million to a fifth in Pablo Sandoval but he’s no longer on the team.) Things get tighter if the Red Sox do shell out another $100+ million deal for J.D. Martinez or another free agent this offseason. That would likely put the Sox over the tax threshold for a second consecutive season, even without signing Harper or another big name from next off-season’s free agent class.

Now, the Red Sox could say, “Screw it, we’re going to put the best team on the field regardless of the luxury tax limit.” But that seems unlikely. The team has spent liberally over the years since John Henry bought them back in 2002, and there’s little reason to expect that not to continue, but asking the team to pay millions for the privilege of paying millions years into the future seems unlikely.

The problem as it stands now is that the team doesn’t have minor league talent that can step in for veterans on expiring contracts, meaning if everything else stays as is, free agents will have to replace free agents. For example, Rick Porcello’s deal is up after the 2019 season which sounds great. Hooray! The Red Sox will have $21 million to use. Except what do you think the going rate for a decent starting pitcher will be in two seasons? I’m guessing it’s going to be a lot, maybe something around $21 million a year. And the Red Sox will also have to replace (or re-sign) Chris Sale and they’ll have already replaced (or re-signed) Drew Pomeranz the season before, likely requiring more money. Boston’s dollars aren’t endless is the point, and guys on cheap deals can’t all be replaced at the top of the market.

One way out for the Red Sox is if David Price opts out of his contract after the 2018 season. If he does, the Red Sox are off the hook for the remaining four years, $127 million. That money could be spent directly on a Kershaw or, probably more likely, Sale.

While the Red Sox could make a run at Kershaw, and damn the luxury tax, the other two generational talents are less likely to sign in Boston. Both Harper and Machado play positions the Red Sox already have covered for the significant future. Machado plays third base where the Red Sox are hoping Rafael Devers will be for the next six seasons. Sure Boston could move him to first or deal him and try to add Machado, but doing that is a significant step towards the luxury tax threshold. Harper seems the more realistic of the two at least in terms of fit, as one of Jackie Bradley or Andrew Benintendi could be moved to make room. And that would be fine. Harper is that good. But the thing is the Red Sox don’t have to do that. They don’t have a hole at third or a hole in the outfield corners, which means they’d be both replacing a good player and doing so by adding one of the biggest contracts in baseball history. Considering their place against the cap (we’re just going to call it what it is, a soft salary cap), doing that seems unlikely.

You never rule it out though. This is the Red Sox. This is Dave Dombrowski. These are great, great players. You never rule it out. But right now, where the Red Sox are, with David Price’s deal on the books until it isn’t, and $18.5 million due to Pablo Sandoval this coming season and the one after it, the arbitration raises coming due, and the lot, it doesn’t seem like the right time for the Red Sox to make a huge addition. All of which means they may just sit out the greatest free agent market of all time.

Or, you know, not.

TOP PLAY (WPA)
Dellin Betances vs. Christian Vazquez is supposed to end in one of a few ways: a weak ground ball to second, a strikeout, or maybe—if it’s Vazquez’s lucky night—a seeing-eye single into center field. Last night Vazquez turned around a 97 mph Betances fastball and deposited it somewhere in the general vicinity of the Massachusetts Turnpike (+.323 WPA), giving the Red Sox an 8-6 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

That’s not supposed to happen, but sometimes it does, and that’s one of baseball’s wonderful quirks. Vazquez is on this team for his defense, and he’ll probably have prolonged offensive slumps at different points in 2016—PECOTA projects him for a .245 True Average and his bat has never been highlighted in a scouting report. But last night, for a flickering moment, he was Manny Ramirez.

BOTTOM PLAY (WPA)
With the score tied and runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth inning, David Ortiz popped up to Mark Teixeira in foul ground (-.076), ending the Sox rally. If only Ortiz could come through in a big spot every once in a while…

For what it’s worth, the Yankees monopolized the rest of the low WPA plays, led by Didi Gregorius’s ninth-inning strikeout (-.075) and A-Rod’s fielder’s choice grounder in the first (-.069), where Travis Shaw made a nice play behind third base to nab Jacoby Ellsbury at the plate.

KEY MOMENT
See above: seriously, watch it again.

Another interesting moment came earlier in the seventh inning. Up to that point, David Price had labored through six—he hadn’t thrown too many pitches and only had one walk, but he’d given up eight hits, including a home run and a double to Alex Rodriguez. It seemed like a logical time to call it a night, although you could maybe argue that it made sense to leave Price in to start the seventh, facing back-to-back lefties to start the inning. Maybe.

John Farrell did one better, leaving Price in to not only face Ellsbury and Brett Gardner, who he successfully retired, but also—after a conference on the mound which might have made you curse at your TV—to face A-rod for a fourth time. Given what we know about the times-through-the-order penalty and platoon splits, that decision was almost certainly, by the numbers, a bad one.

Give Price credit—and Farrell, too, I suppose—for getting Rodriguez to ground out to Pedroia after a six-pitch battle, setting up the bottom of the inning for Vazquez’s heroics. Price had another rough outing overall and you’ll likely find a thinkpiece or three about him on the internet tomorrow, but it’s nice that he can still go seven innings even when he doesn’t have it, allowing Boston to bypass the middle of the ‘pen for Koji Uehara and Craig Kimbrel.

TREND TO WATCH
I realize Brett Cowett just wrote about it in Friday’s game recap, but Dustin Pedroia went to the opposite field in all five plate appearances last night, the first three of which all found grass. Per Brooks Baseball, Pedroia has been using the off-field far more frequently in 2016, particularly on soft stuff:

I can’t tell you what, exactly, this means, but Pedroia’s now hitting .324/.371/.491 so far this season, so I’m just going to shut up and enjoy it.

COMING NEXT
The Red Sox head to Chicago for a three-game set with the surprising 18-8 White Sox, where Steven Wright will square off with Jose Quintana in the series opener on Tuesday. Quintana is quietly building a case for the best non-ace pitcher in the majors, as he’s posted a 3.37 career FIP while delivering a quality start in nine of the last 10 outings going back to 2015. Over the weekend, the Red Sox will travel to the Bronx for another three-gamer with the Yankees that will conclude on Sunday night.

Photo by Bob DeChiara/USA Today Sports Images

I love baseball for many reasons but the stars of my youth and their gregarious personalities have influenced that more than anything.  From Pedro Martinez’s hilarious and self-deprecating humor off the field and his bulldog demeanor on the mound to the outgoing nature and swagger of David Ortiz there has never been a shortage of these on Yawkey Way.  Boggs is no exception and it seems that the longer he’s away from the game the more his legend continues to grow.

With no way to truly do the man justice — and with Bryan Grosnick having already summer up his career – I thought it would be best to give the namesake of my long-time dynasty league team his due with 26 “facts” about his life and playing career.  I say facts loosely because some stories are legend but a few common themes unite them all:  Beer. Chicken.  Any yes many many hits.  

1. Wade Boggs accumulated 88.3 fWAR over the course of his 18-year playing career, which ranks fourth all-time amongst third basemen behind Eddie Matthews, Mike Schmidt and Alex Rodriguez.  
2. 70.8 of his fWAR was accumulated in his first 11 seasons, all with the Red Sox.
3. His 70.8 fWAR ranks him third all-time for fWAR accumulated while in a Red Sox uniform, only behind Carl Yastrzemski at 94.8 and Ted Williams at 130.4.
4. Legend has it that Boggs once consumed 64 beers on a cross-country flight from Boston to Los Angeles. While the number is disputed, the beer of choice is not.  
5. Wade Boggs drinks but one beer, none other than Miller Lite.
6. Known for his affection for chicken, Boggs tried his hand at sharing his favorite chicken recipes with all of us in his little-known recipe book and only known foray into writing Foul Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes—it is spiral bound.
7. Throughout his 1,625 games with the Red Sox, Boggs slashed .328/.428/.462. His OBP ranked behind only Jimmie Foxx at .429 and Ted Williams at .482.
8. Boggs finished his playing career with 3,010 hits, a fact which he honors with his excellent twitter handle @ChickenMan3010.
9. Boggs won five American League batting titles over his career, in 1983 and from 1985-1988.  All of these were won in a Red Sox uniform.
10. In 2005, Boggs was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 91.9% of the vote in his first year eligible.
11. Boggs was an 11-Time All-Star with eight of his selections coming while wearing a Red Sox uniform.
12. While he never won a World Series with the Red Sox he did reach one in 1986.  
13. When Boggs did win a World Series with the hated Yankees in 1996 he celebrated by riding on a police officer’s horse.
14. The number of beers consumed by Boggs is still very much up for debate. However former teammate Jeff Nelson is on the record saying “50-60 beers was not just an isolated incident but was something he did on almost every cross country flight.”
15. Boggs led the American League in OBP six-times, in 1983 and from 1985-1989.
16. In 1987 and 1988 he also led the American League in OPS.
17. 200+ hit seasons are very hard to come by, but Boggs had seven such seasons with the Red Sox.
18. As good as he was with the bat, Boggs was no slouch defensively, winning two golden gloves late in his career in 1994 and 1995.
19. While filming an appearance on my favorite comedy show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Boggs reportedly told Charlie Day that the actual number of beers he drank on the flight was a staggering 107.  Day shared this fact with the world on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  
20. From 1986-1988 Wade Boggs led the American League in fWAR amongst position players. His marks were 7.7, 8.9, and 8.6.
21. During this impressive stretch Boggs also put up an fWAR of 8.8 in 1985, but was unable to best the mark of 9.7 set by Ricky Henderson.
22. While he wasn’t considered a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, Boggs could hit doubles.  He had 40 or more doubles eight times over his career with the Red Sox.
23. Do you like Silver Slugger awards?  Boggs has eight of them, six while playing for the Red Sox.
24. His .338 career batting average with the Red Sox is second only to the great Ted Williams.
25. Over his time with the Red Sox, Boggs led the MLB in batting average, hits, doubles and on base percentage.
26. From May 26th forward no player will ever again wear a number 26 Red Sox jersey. Boston fans will ALWAYS remember Boggs for what he did on the field while with Boston and we will cheer him on this year when his number 26 is retired in the place where he delivered the best moments of his storied career.Photo by Gregory Fisher/USA Today Sports Images

Going Deep

As the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson points out, few players have looked worse than Mike Napoli so far. The first baseman had a promising spring training and appeared to be in line for a strong year following offseason surgery to cure his sleep apnea. That has yet to translate to the regular season. Napoli has a .213 TAv and .253 ISO through 23 games, which puts him on pace to finish well below his career averages. Those struggles were particularly evident on Saturday, when Napoli came up with two runners on base twice and recorded inning-ending outs on both occasions. The Red Sox have no intentions of giving up on Napoli, but the issues are glaring. Napoli has a -0.3 WARP and is projected to hit .246/.350/.454 the rest of the season, which, believe it or not, is a significant improvement from where he is right now.

The Yankees swept the Red Sox at Fenway Park, which means it was a bad weekend in Boston. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes that perhaps there’s only one major difference between the two teams despite the lopsided outcome: the Yankees’ bullpen is far superior. With Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller as the go-tos in the final two innings of every game, New York has been nearly unstoppable with late leads. The Red Sox have been quite the opposite out of the pen, as the numbers suggest. The Sox’s 3.99 bullpen ERA is good for 20th in baseball, while its 4.80 FIP among relievers is tied for worst in the majors as of Tuesday. Their three most used relievers as of Tuesday have also been among their worst. Craig Breslow leads the team with 15 innings pitched out of the pen, but his 4.91 FIP is his second-worst in the last six years. Junichi Tazawa is tied for second with 12.1 innings pitched, but also has the third-worst FIP (5.28) on the team. Finally, Edward Mujica. Dare I say more? In 12.1 innings pitched, Mujica is worst among Red Sox relievers in ERA (5.11), ERA+ (82) and FIP (6.17). Clearly the starters aren’t the only problem.

Quick Hits

Blake Swihart made his sooner-than-expected Red Sox debut Saturday after Ryan Hanigan was placed on the disabled list with a fractured hand. Although Swihart had just one hit in eight at-bats over his first two Major League starts, The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo writes that the 23-year-old catcher’s talent is evident at the plate, behind the plate and on the base paths. Swihart legged out an infield single for his first big-league hit and called a strong, seven-inning outing for Wade Miley in his debut against the Yankees.

It was a milestone weekend at Fenway Park for Alex Rodriguez, who, amidst a shower of boos, tied Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time home run list with a solo homer in the eighth inning to lead the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Sox Friday night. It’s easy to forget how close Rodriguez was to joining the Sox in the winter of 2003. The Boston Herald’s Scott Lauber examines what might have been had the deal to send Manny Ramirez and Jon Lester — then a Single-A pitching prospect — to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Rodriguez gone through. It appears all would’ve been OK on Yawkey Way.

Losing their fourth straight game Monday night was bad enough, but things got even worse for the Red Sox when Hanley Ramirez suffered a shoulder injury in first inning of the Sox’s 5-1 loss to the Rays. Ramirez, who has been the Red Sox’s best hitter so far this season with a .400 wOBA, .326 ISO and a team-leading 10 home runs through 25 games, was listed as “day-to-day” by manager John Farrell after the game. His absence leaves a significant hole in the lineup.

This is a late 90s, early 2000s Red Sox fan’s dream come true. Pedro Martinez and the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman teamed up for a book, titled PEDRO, that released Tuesday, highlighting the former Sox ace’s decorated, and often dramatic, career. Silverman writes about his experience working with Martinez, explaining how it was a project over a decade in the making. Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe has nothing but great things to say about the book in his latest column, and certainly makes it sound worth buying.

Three Good Game Stories

WEEI.com’s Ryan Hannable highlights Wade Miley’s outing Saturday afternoon as a positive for the Red Sox despite a 4-2 loss to the Yankees.

Joe Kelly once again kept his velocity up, but, as the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato writes, the right-hander couldn’t translate it to success on the mound. He was knocked around for five runs on a season-high nine hits in the Red Sox’ 8-5 loss to the Yankees Sunday night.

Bad pitching isn’t the only reason the Red Sox have slipped to last in the American League East. CSNNE.com’s Jimmy Toscano explains how a lack of timely hitting proved costly in the Sox’ 5-1 loss to the Rays Monday night.

Photo by Kim Klement/USA Today Sports Images