Huh?
It’s not just about the dead money. It’s also about the active money. Also you left off Sandoval and his $17mill.
The Red Sox remaining players still have a payroll of about $140mill. That’s more than enough to build a competitive team. That’s more than the payrolls of Tampa, Oakland, Minnesota, and Atlanta, all of whom probably also have some cash tied up in injured players as well.
The Sox problem isn’t the “limited” payroll. Their problem is having no depth below their MLB payroll. Cleveland, for example, has a major ch lower payroll thanBoson and been without Kluber and Carrasco nearly all season and is still in a much better postseason position than Boston.,.