Last week, Peter Gammons did a tweet.
Alex Speier noted the Red Sox could not offer Travis Shaw $4M until they clarified their payroll situation. Falmouth's Steve Cishek--over last 4 yrs. ave. 61 G, 2.52 ERA. 9.3 K/9, 1.05 WHIP--would like to sign w/Boston, but made $7.1M last season and may be out of their pay range
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) December 29, 2019
The initial reaction to that from most, myself included, was, “Wow! That really stinks on ice, man!” Obviously, that feeling is based on the fact that the Red Sox couldn’t offer $4 million without moving payroll first.