The World Series champion Boston Red Sox owe nearly $12 million in luxury tax for having baseball’s biggest payroll in 2018.
Dec 11, 2018; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora talks to the media during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Clark-USA TODAY Sports
Final calculations by the commissioner’s office set Boston’s tax bill at $11,951,091, with the Washington Nationals being the only other team that owes money at $2,386,097, per The Associated Press.
Because Boston’s payroll of $239.5 million exceeded Major League Baseball’s $197 million threshold by more than $40 million, the Red Sox will also be penalized in the amateur draft next June.
Boston’s top selection will be dropped 10 places from its original projection of No. 33 overall, under a new penalty put in place for the 2018 season.
—The Los Angeles Angels announced the signing of first baseman Justin Bour to a one-year contract Saturday. A source told MLB.com the deal was for $2.5 million.
Bour, 30, split last season between the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies and tallied 20 homers, 59 RBIs and a career-high 73 walks in 141 games. It was the third 20-homer season in the last four years for the left-handed slugger.
Bour batted .320 as a pinch hitter in 2018 and tied for the major league lead with 11 pinch-hit RBIs.
—Cleveland has traded first baseman Yonder Alonso to the Chicago White Sox for outfield prospect Alex Call, the Indians confirmed.
Alonso, 31, has a career batting average of .265 with 90 home runs and 389 RBIs in 951 games over nine major league seasons. In 2018, his only season with the Indians, Alonso hit .250 with 23 home runs and a career-high 83 RBIs.
In three seasons in the minors, Call, a third-round draft choice of the White Sox in 2016, has hit .256 with an on-base percentage of .347. The 24-year-old has 21 home runs, 126 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 257 games.
—Field Level Media