The Red Sox will have to make at least one tough move

The Boston Red Sox expect to be balling on a budget, as the kids say, next season...

The team is going to cut its payroll and then they're gonna have to try to also get better which is hard to do at the same time. They want to get down to $208 mil from $235 mil. Sure, the Tampa Bay Rays have the lowest payroll in the game and they're in the playoffs (and the Red Sox are not), but that's besides the point.

The point we need to touch on is reality. Reality can be hard to accept sometimes because frankly, it can kind of suck.

What has to be addressed is this report from MLB Trade Rumors that says it's unlikely that the Red So keep both Mookie Betts and JD Martinez. IN their mind, only one of those two guys is going to be on the roster next season. Now, if we put on the thinking cap and think hard about this one, which guy seems more likely to go? The guy with the opt-out clause or the one who won MVP Last season and is only 26?

Sox Prospects, a website devoted to Red Sox prospects, does its projected rosters every year and they constantly change. These include both the big leagues and all of the minor league levels as well. On there, they project that Martinez will not be with the team next season either. The downside to this is we have no idea if the Red Sox are going to have a middle of the order bat to replace him with. Truthfully, the answer is probably no. A JD or a David Ortiz (yeah, we are comparing the two) is not an easy find, after all.

Ultimately, it's all John Henry's money, so we shouldn't care too much about the Red Sox  spending big. They just need to win.