Red Sox Owner John Henry Claiming Luxury Tax Didn't Play Factor in Mookie Betts Trade is Insulting

There are two stories that keep on giving this offseason, and we already know the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal is the one that takes center stage. The other? Look no further than the most controversial trade we've seen in years.

The Boston Red Sox dealt Mookie Betts and David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers not too long ago, and fans in Beantown have been up in arms considering the team couldn't figure out a way to work out an extension with arguably the second-best player in baseball. We've heard just about every excuse in the book from Sox ownership and management, but John Henry now claiming the move had nothing to do with the luxury tax threshold should come across as a slap in the face to every Boston fan.

So if the luxury tax didn't matter, then why didn't the team go out in free agency and patch up the roster in an attempt to make another run at the World Series? After all, this is still an extremely talented group of players that won it all just 16 months ago.

The Sox spent $18.6 million on free agents this offseason, but when you factor in they sent Betts' $27 million salary and $16 million of Price's $32 million salary, it's really nothing. And when you see the players they added were Kevin Pillar, Martin Perez, Jose Peraza and Kevin Plawecki, you can tell it's a whole lot of nothing. None of those guys are going to move the needle.

When you also realize the team would've been on the hook for an effective 42% tax rate in 2020 if their payroll was over $206 million (a bill that would've been over $20 million), it's hard to believe a word ownership is saying at this point.

“Yes,” said Henry in response to the question of whether the club would have traded Betts even if it had already dipped below the competitive balance tax by making other deals, per the Boston Globe's Michael Silverman. “We had other avenues for getting under the CBT.”

So, why weren't all of those options executed before trading Betts? If the Astros hadn't botched their apologies and statements regarding their scandal, the Red Sox would be under an even harsher microscope this offseason.