Red Sox Won't Be Spending This Summer

Not that I feel bad for Red Sox fans. When your team forks up to sign two elite players long-term over the winter (remember Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford?), you generally don't sit around during the hotter months wondering why they haven't made a big move lately. And for those antsy Red Sox fans expecting one of those blockbuster acquisitions this summer, keep your expectations tempered. Very tempered, if you know what I mean.

Recently, Boston GM Theo Epstein noted to Peter Gammons that the club likely won't be able to add payroll this summer due to their already massive financial commitments. That doesn't mean that the team will be totally prohibited from making transactions, but without any money to play around with, their farm system would likely take a larger hit instead of the club's checkbook.

Unless the Sox can find a GM that views J.D. Drew in the same way that Tony Reagins oddly perceived Vernon Wells, it seems highly unlikely that the Red Sox will be a drastically different team come August. Gammons has already noted that the financial issues likely make New York's Carlos Beltran and Minnesota's Michael Cuddyer too costly for their tastes, but they could pursue cheaper options like Colorado's Ryan Spilborghs or Oakland's Josh Willingham if right field is a spot that they want to address.

But in the past, we've seen Boston acquire the likes of Victor Martinez and Jason Bay over recent winters, and that kind of acquisition appears highly unlikely given their current situation.