The Boston Red Sox made their first move of the offseason on Tuesday, Nov. 25, sending pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke to the St. Louis Cardinals for veteran righty Sonny Gray in return.
The move bolsters the Sox starting rotation, where Gray figures to slot in as the No. 3 or No. 4 depending on whether they add another starter this offseason and if they view Brayan Bello as more or less valuable than Gray. With Garrett Crochet poised to make another Cy Young bid in 2026, stacking the rotation behind him is one of two main focuses for the Red Sox this offseason.
The other focus is on adding a power bat to the middle of the lineup. Boston’s power took a dip after Rafael Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants midway through the 2025 season, so replacing that productivity is a priority for Sox general manager Craig Breslow.
Red Sox Still Below Luxury Tax Threshold After Gray Acquisition
As a part of the trade to acquire Sonny Gray, the Cardinals also sent the Red Sox $20 million to offset some of the stress from Gray’s one-year, $41 million contract for the upcoming season. $21 million gets added to the Sox luxury tax payroll, putting them at $223 million as of Nov. 26.
The MLB’s luxury tax threshold for the 2026 season is $244 million, which means Boston currently sits at roughly $21 million below that mark. With at least one big free agent signing yet to come, the question becomes whether Red Sox owner John Henry and Fenway Sports Group are willing to shell out the money for Boston to exceed that threshold and eat some tax money.
Because there’s no salary cap in the MLB, that luxury tax threshold imposes taxes on teams that exceed the $244 million dollar mark. Any team that exceeds $244 million within another $20 million gets taxed 30 percent on the excess payroll. That number increases for anywhere between $20-40 million over the threshold, and once a team exceeds $40 million extra dollars, that team is punished by dropping their first pick in the next MLB Draft by 10 spots.
Big market teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers continually exceed the threshold because their owners are willing to pay the extra tax money for their team to shell out big contracts to star players. Boston’s ownership group has been reluctant in recent years to do that as people have speculated that Fenway Sports Group has been focusing their efforts on expanding in other leagues like the NHL and the Premier League.
Now that the Red Sox have a solid young core though, it’s likely that ownership will be willing to let Breslow exceed the luxury tax threshold to put a World Series contending team together.
How Much Will Boston Be Willing to Spend For Remainder of Offseason?
The big names that have been linked to the Red Sox that are currently on the free agent market are sluggers Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber and pitchers Dylan Cease and Framber Valdez. Boston will also be in the running to get Alex Bregman back on a new contract after he opted out of his remaining years with the Sox following the 2025 season.
After acquiring Sonny Gray, Boston has $21 million to work with before hitting the luxury tax mark. Red Sox fans are hoping that ownership is willing to exceed that mark, because all of the aforementioned players carry AAV’s of anywhere in the $25-30 million range. With Gray now on the books, any big name free agent will carry them past the threshold.
Assuming Henry and FSG are okay with exceeding the $244 million mark, they would probably be willing to sign off on anything that keeps them under $284 million which is where the punishments get steeper.
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