\u2217 Don\u2019t look now, but the American League East has become a beast again.<\/p>\n
The division was already home to the free-spending Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays, who went from last place in 2024 to within inches of winning the World Series last month, have emerged as a powerhouse.<\/p>\n
For CBT purposes, the Blue Jays finished 2025 with a payroll of $278.8 million. They\u2019re expected to top that figure for next season after signing free agent starter Dylan Cease last week. The Jays still need backend bullpen help and haven\u2019t ruled out bringing back free agent Bo Bichette.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been further speculation that the Jays could be big players for outfielder Kyle Tucker, considered the best position player on this winter\u2019s market.<\/p>\n
All of which makes for an ominous development for the Red Sox. Blue Jays chairman Ted Rogers has decided to spend commensurate with the fact that his team occupies baseball\u2019s sixth-bigger market, to say nothing of the fact that the Jays are the one MLB team with literally a national following.<\/p>\n
Thus, the Red Sox face the real possibility that they\u2019ll enter the 2026 season with not one but two division rivals willing to spend upwards of $300 million in payroll. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019t expect the Red Sox to match that figure. Since the Red Sox led baseball in spending in 2018, they\u2019ve been in a sort of financial retrenchment. The 2025 season was just the second time since 2019 that the Sox went over the first CBT threshold \u2014 and then only barely.<\/p>\n
According to industry sources familiar with the organization\u2019s thinking, the Red Sox are OK going over the first CBT threshold \u2014 set at $244 million for 2026 \u2014 which would translate to them absorbing a modest financial loss. But with anything beyond that, there\u2019s a reluctance to incur bigger deficits.<\/p>\n
As last season demonstrated, that sort of payroll can enable a competitive team on the field, one capable of qualifying for the postseason. As the Red Sox saw, however, the team\u2019s roster was far from top-notch when injuries struck in September.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible to win a pennant and get to the World Series without having a Top 5 payroll. But the margin for error becomes considerably slimmer.<\/p>\n
\u2217 Only a handful of teams have won more games than the Bruins heading into the weekend and the resurgent play of goaltender Jeremy Swayman has been a big factor.<\/p>\n
Swayman stole two points against the Islanders earlier this week and his numbers (2.68 GAA; .915 save percentage) are more in keeping with his play prior to last year. The hope had been that last season was the result of, among other things, his protracted contract talks which cost him a normal training camp. So far, that seems like the case, which is a relief \u2014 given the long-term commitment the Bruins made, they need him to be a Top 10 goalie. Of late, he has been.<\/p>\n
\u2217 The hellscape that is social media seemed to hit new lows this week when the YES Network had to refute reports and deny that former Yankee and current broadcaster Paul O\u2019Neill had cancer.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s always tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u2217 It was comforting – if that\u2019s the right term \u2014 to see the Patriots win in spite of Drake May last weekend, rather than because of him. Not that they want to do that too often.<\/p>\n
\u2217 Here\u2019s hoping you took some time to rewatch The Last Waltz \u2014 only the greatest concert film of all-time \u2014 at some point over the Thanksgiving weekend.<\/p>\n
\u2217 RIP to Jimmy Cliff, who helped introduce reggae to the American masses even before Bob Marley.<\/p>\n
\u2217 Poor Lane Kiffin. He spent the week trying to decide between two schools slobbering over him and blamed the media for bringing \u201cdistractions\u201d to his Ole Miss program, then acted put out when his athletic director gave him a deadline so that he could stop holding his current team and LSU hostage.<\/p>\n
In other words, Kiffin is everything that\u2019s wrong with big-time college sports.<\/p>\n
\u2217 The Patriots have a long tradition of outstanding tight ends from Russ Francis, Ben Coates and, of course, Rob Gronkowski. But at least when it comes pass-catching ability at the position, Hunter Henry is beginning to work his way into that conversation.<\/p>\n
\u2217 It\u2019s tough to beat a college football broadcast featuring the announcing duo of Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy.<\/p>\n
\u2217 The fact that David Pastrnak had a consecutive games played streak of 298 until Friday probably didn\u2019t get the recognition it deserved. In the NHL, playing almost every game over a stretch of nearly four seasons is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n
\u2217 Is it me or did Sebastian Maniscalco used to be a lot funnier?<\/p>\n
\u2217 It\u2019s still very early in the offseason, but the Red Sox seem intent on amassing the most number of utility infielders of any team in the league.<\/p>\n
Sure depth is important and minor league free agents don\u2019t represent big commitments. But at some point, they would seem to have enough candidates.<\/p>\n
\u2217 J.J. McCarthy stands as the ultimate cautionary tale in the NFL. The Minnesota Vikings appeared to have erred twice with him \u2014 once when they drafted him 10th overall and again last spring when they gave up Sam Darnold and handed McCarthy the QB 1 job.<\/p>\n
When you get the quarterback call, it can set a franchise back for many seasons. Call it luck if you wish, but the Patriots, choosing third that same draft, made the right decision.<\/p>\n
\u2217 We\u2019re now three seasons into the NBA Cup, and it still seems as though the league is making up a lot of this as it goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2217 Don\u2019t look now, but the American League East has become a beast again. The division was already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[8475,64,63,4034,179799,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-318761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-greenfly","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}