Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy says there is a way for the team to keep Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez and stay below Major League Baseball's competitive balance tax, but it will be tough.

"There is a way, but obviously it will be difficult given the nature of the agreements and the contracts we have in place," Kennedy said.

"We have a very targeted and strategic plan that we're building now. Some of the dates related to contract decisions come right after the World Series. So we've had some time in September to focus on the offseason given where we were in the standings," he added. "It is going to be a challenging offseason, but we're ready to attack it head-on and do everything we can to put a competitive team out there not just for next year but 2021, 2022."

John Henry and Tom Werner met with reporters on Friday and said they were prepared to cut payroll to get under the luxury-tax threshold next season.