DALLAS – The Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Angels didn’t just dominate the podium at the winter meetings. They were the only teams that used them to reshape their clubs.
As Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes and some other All-Stars found new homes, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies were uncharacteristically quiet this week, failing to make any big free-agent signings or major trades. Not like last year, when the Red Sox landed Carl Crawford and the Yankees and Phillies wooed Cliff Lee.
Perhaps it’s a sign that the luxury tax is working, that the high-revenue teams have maxed out their spending. Or perhaps that the big-market powers all had first basemen, and the starting pitchers available were second-tier at best.
“We did go into the meetings with kind of a healthy skepticism about free agency, but certainly not a prohibition against signing free agents,” Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said Thursday. “We won’t ever go that far, but what we did last year is not something that people expect us to duplicate or replicate, when you spend nearly $300 million on free agent signings. That’s not something you’re likely to do year in and year out. It could turn
Read More from the Article Source: Full Article
