Red Sox own Dempster's rights this season, even if they don't pay him:
Quote:
The Restricted list is a compendium of players who are out of organized baseball but are not free agents. A team can request that a player be placed on the restricted list if that player has left the team without a valid reason, or has announced his intention to retire but is still of an age or level of skill that could allow him to return to professional baseball in the future. In effect, the team states that it retains rights to the player if and when he becomes active again. The list is also used to place a player who is unavailable to play for non-baseball reasons, such as personal issues or trouble with the law.
A player on the restricted list cannot be signed by another team unless compensation is paid to the team who placed him on the list.
Maybe Theo can swindle the Red Sox into taking Castro for Dempster, straight up.
Ryan Dempster has more championships than Dan Marino:
