BOSTON -- Others may look at the $183 million in guaranteed money the Red Sox invested Tuesday in free agents Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez and fret about the risk.

Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry, whose own money is on the line, is not among them.

"I think the risk of doing nothing was much larger," said Henry, who attended both ends of the matinee/evening news conferences the Sox held Tuesday to introduce their newest additions.

"The risk is avoiding free agency. You can't put together a winning ballclub just through the minor league system. To me that would be really risky."

Henry was asked about the worst-to-first-worst odyssey the club has been on in the past three seasons.

"If we can win the World Series every other year and finish last every other year, I'd take that," he said. "It has been a roller coaster, I can't deny that, but when you have a bad year, like you did this year, just like in 2012, you're determined to rebuild quickly, and I think Ben [Cherington] has taken tremendous steps to do that."

Henry took exception to framing the signings of Sandoval (five years, $95 million, with a $17 million club option for a sixth year) and Ramirez (four years, $88 million, with a vesting option of $22 million for a fifth year) as the Sox embarking on a different financial course than he had articulated earlier this year. In an interview with Business Week that enjoyed wide circulation, Henry had spoken of the Sox not having participated in a "feeding frenzy of bidding up stars" and the way teams "extravagantly overpay for players above the age of 30."

And yet on Tuesday, the Sox awarded the third- and fourth-largest free-agent contracts in their history (total dollars) and are paying Ramirez, who turns 31 on Dec. 23, an average of $22 million, matching Adrian Gonzalez for the highest average salary in club history.

"That was really overblown because of one comment quoting a study that says more about the structure of major league compensation," Henry said Tuesday. "Players aren't compensated that well in their 20s. They have to get to free agency. Almost by definition, you're going to get more bang for your buck when a player is in his 20s. That's just the way the structure is set up.

"That doesn't mean you're not going to go out and sign 30-year-old players. You can't win unless you engage in free agency. We've always engaged in free agency, and after the '12 season and '14 season we had such flexibility during the offseason, we went into the free-agent market both times, I think, for 30-year-olds.

"I don't see it as a departure. I understand, because so much was made out of it, as if we were never going to have a long-term contract, we're never going to go sign a 30-year-old. I thought that was a little much to assume."

Henry seemed to draw a distinction between these signings and the 2010 deal for Carl Crawford (seven years, $142 million) and the trade for Gonzalez, who subsequently signed a seven-year, $154 million contract.

"You don't necessarily want to go crazy in free agency with long-term huge contracts," he said. "We've gotten burned doing that. These deals made sense to us, especially at this point. It gives us tremendous flexibility."

Henry lauded general manager Cherington for doing a "tremendous job" landing the players considered the top two bats on the free-agent market, especially this early in the offseason. That will enable Cherington, he said, to focus on pitching.

Asked what assurances he had that the new players will perform up to expectations, he said:

"I don't get any assurances. I thought today, in listening to both and talking to both one-on-one, they were really happy to be here. I think they really have respect for the organization, have talked to players in the organization and are looking forward to the clubhouse dynamics."