According to
ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes,
the Red Sox were willing to go as high as 6 years and $120 million in the negotiations for Jacoby Ellsbury. Previous information pegged Boston's
initial offer at 5 years and $100 million—which would have been a manageable pact for the Red Sox. Once things escalated beyond six years, however, there was no way
Ben Cherington was doing a deal for a 30-year old player with a history of missing significant time due to injury (albeit mostly because of a crappy Red Sox medical team).
