NOG May Fake No Deal For Taxes

NOG May Fake No Deal For Taxes

In the bizarre world of baseball economics, the fandom of the Boston Red Sox may have to undergo some agita this off-season. Alex Speier speculates that the team may—essentially—fake an impasse with Adrian Gonzalez and delay a contract extension until after Opening Day 2011. The reason? To avoid a major luxury tax hit next year. The other rationale is that this will free up even more cash to go after Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford over the next week. Sounds plausible, but you have to wonder whether all this sudden concern for economics is the result of over-extension by the ownership (read: soccer and NASCAR).