Quiet at the Wrong Time

[cornball]

It doesn't make sense to me, that the Sox are so quiet regarding moves via trades or FA, but they announce from the mountain tops their budget of 58-60 million.

By doing so, doesn't that reduce the trade values of the players they are trying to move, since the opposing team knows it is for salary for the most part? Doesn't it also paint the perception we all have of cheapness? Doesn't it also ask for bad press?

The Cubs on the other hand said they would increase payroll, soon we see articles saying they are possible canidates for ARod and other possitive spins.

If the club said they were going raise payroll, the attitude of the fan base, the available players and the media would give the players the benefit of a doubt. KW can always far back on, "I won't do a deal that doesn't benefit the team", even if he does nothing....like he is now.

[joeynach]

Yes exactly. This is the best point one can make about what is happening. They are shooting themselves in the foot. Make bad PR, make FA's not want to sign here,.

[soxtalker]

The Sox and KW, in particular, don't give out much of any information. Some teams leak much more. This can be maddening while we're waiting for something to happen, but it doesn't mean that KW isn't working on trades. Almost all of his "big" trades have been big surprises.

As far as letting people know that there is a $58M budget limit, I'm not real sure what harm it (letting people know -- we can debate the actual limit) does. I suppose that it might affect season ticket sales a bit, but otherwise this isn't the time of year that the Sox are going to be selling a lot of tickets. It probably depends more on what the composition of the team looks like a couple of months down the road. But even then, it really depends on whether the Sox win during the season.