Red Sox president: 'To win championships, we'll sacrifice profits'

Boston Red Sox ownership is willing to sacrifice the bottom line for rings. 

The organization plans to trot out its most expensive roster in the team's 114 year existence this season, and the combined $253-million spending spree for three players this winter isn't going to deter the front office from spending more in-season.

"We always find some money for in-season activities if the situation is compelling and the opportunity is there," CEO and president Larry Lucchino told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. "That's a judgement we have to make five months from now. We'll see how everything goes. But we want to win championships. To win championships, we'll sacrifice profits."

The Red Sox owe approximately $178 million in salary to this season's roster - the third straight year they've increased their financial commitment. 

Despite the team's free-spending ways, Lucchino rejected the comparision that the Red Sox operate similarly to their deep-pocketed rivals in New York.

"We are different," Lucchino told Scot Lauber of the Boston Herald. "We run our franchises differently. But there is a commonality in our willingness to invest sizable sums in baseball players, whether they be short-term additions or long-term development projects. In that sense, we - like the Dodgers, like the Giants, like a lot of successful clubs - are willing to pay the price and write the check.

"But we operate differently. They run their franchise; we run ours. It's a question of pattern and consistency over time. That's one way to distinguish."