MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — The Red Sox spent their money carefully this winter, making trades to fill the holes in their pitching staff then signing first baseman Mitch Moreland to a modest $5.5 million deal.
Free agent power hitters Carlos Beltran, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Matt Holliday — all candidates to replace David Ortiz in the middle of the lineup — weren’t part of the conversation.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last month one of his goals was to get the team’s payroll under the competitive balance tax threshold of $195 million. On Friday night, principal owner John Henry explained why.
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Under the new collective bargaining agreement, there is more benefit to get under the limit, even if only for a year.
“There are certain years and I think this is one of those years. It’s based on time as well as amount,” Henry said. “I think this a year we’d like to be under it.”
By getting under $195 million, the Red Sox would reset the financial penalty to 20 percent should they go over again, which is inevitable for 2018 given the contracts already in place.
If the Sox stayed over the limit, they would be taxed at the maximum rate of 50 percent for 2017 and every year beyond they were over. By resetting the penalties, the Sox give themselves financial flexibility in future seasons.
“Exactly,” said Henry, who also owns the Globe.
Team chairman Tom Werner said Dombrowski was not given a mandate to get under the limit. But it’s clear the organizational consensus was to do exactly that.
“We’re just trying to do what’s best for the franchise and what’s best for the team,” Werner said.
The Red Sox also held on to their first-round draft pick by not signing a qualified free agent, a not-insignificant asset given the number of high-ceiling prospects Dombrowski has traded in the last 14 months.
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Henry and Werner spoke to reporters at the team’s Winter Weekend event at Foxwoods Resort Casino.
Werner acknowledged the loss of prospects but pointed out the major league team has a solid core of young talent.
“We have a very strong, youthful group that’s hopefully going to be with us hopefully for many years. Obviously you have to trade some high-value prospects to get better quickly,” he said.
For the Sox, signing players like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts to long-term deals takes on added importance given what is now a dearth of talent in the minors.
“It is important,” Henry said. “It takes two and we’ll do everything we can.”
Two Red Sox players, Jackie Bradley Jr. and David Price, said recently that they were subjected to racial taunts at Fenway Park.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for that kind of behavior,” Werner said. “If we hear that somebody is taunting somebody, then he’ll be ejected from Fenway Park . . . There’s no gray area here.”
The owners also said there was no last-ditch attempt by the Sox to get Ortiz to postpone retirement for another season.
“I thought he was pretty convinced,” Henry said. “The conversations we had were really about what happens after.”
In addition to retiring his No. 34 this season, the Sox hope to come to an agreement with Ortiz about what kind of role he will have with the club in retirement. A contingent of team officials will be in the Dominican Republic next week to see the team’s academy and spend some time with Ortiz discussing business projects.
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The Winter Weekend event drew 23 Sox players. New starting pitcher Chris Sale received a standing ovation from the crowd at a town hall event on Friday night . . . Third baseman Pablo Sandoval was scheduled to attend but did not because of the flu . . . Bradley has changed his number from 25 to 19 . . . Lefthander Eduardo Rodriguez had his right knee checked out in Boston and was cleared for spring training according to Dombrowski. Rodriguez tweaked his knee pitching in Venezuela.
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.