The Sox have not taken their time this offseason to make things happen.  With the Teahan trade coupled with the buy-out of Dye, the re-signing of Kotsay, and the release of Wilson Betemit, the Sox have taken an aggressive approach to this offseason.

I think there's a pretty good reason why Kenny is doing this.  Last year was one of the funkiest years of free agency ever.  You saw guys go off the market early at really high prices, people get picked up for less than what they expected just to make sure they had a job, and some past stars not touched into Spring Training because their demands were just too high.  This year promises to be very similar.

The depression has not gotten a ton better, and in many cases in the baseball world its gotten worse.  Last year was the beginning of the problems for many teams economically, but now we are at a time where all the issues the economy had on American's are starting to catch up with the teams themselves.  People not going to games, people buying less apparel, and if they do make the game people spending less once they get their.  At the beginning of the depression (last offseason) the teams had expectations  of this happening, but financially they hadn't taken the hit yet.  Now they have.

So what's the response, well if your Kenny Williams, it's to make a move quick.  Keep who you want, get rid of who you don't want, and see if your asking price will get the guys you want in free agency.  If your price is too low, move on and try the next guy.

The reason why this can work, and will work in my opinion, is because players in a very similar situation.  Obviously they are not being slammed by the depression like many people are, but they do know that this is not a great market to rake this offseason.  So they have an asking price in mind, and I think if you hit it, they will sign right then and there.  There's a certain risk involved in waiting.  Sure you could make more, but you could also be put in  situation where time turns against you and you have to take much less than expected in late January, February, or even early March, where you could have signed for slightly less in November.

Moving quickly is too terribly uncommon, but this season it's going to be prevelant.  And the Sox are already ahead of the curve.

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