The Red Sox interviewed two candidates for the vacant managerial job this week.

Glenn Hoffman and Terry Francona came to Boston, met with team brass, and then spoke with the media. By all accounts, they did well.

How nice.

It is a commonly held belief in these parts that Grady Little cost the Sox a shot at the World Series, and that a man with stronger grasp of game strategy would have ushered them through Game 7 and on to the promised land.

No argument here. Trouble is, much is being made of the current search, but it’s not the biggest challenge facing the Red Sox this off-season. Not by a long shot.

The big trouble can be found in a file cabinet on Yawkey Way. The one that holds the players’ contracts. The one left bursting at the seams by former Dan “I’ll Outbid Everyone” Duquette.

In that cabinet, you’ll find some amazing works of non-fiction, like the combined $47.5 milllion owed to Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, and Nomar Garciaparra next season. You’ll find interesting reading, like the fact that the services of those three men, along with Derek Lowe, Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon, could be available to the highest bidder after the upcoming season.

Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein knows this well. He’s read every word of every piece of paper in that cabinet. That’s why he tried to shed some $20 million off of next year’s payroll by placing Ramirez on irrevocable waivers last week. There were no takers.

It should be an exciting off-season for baseball. Pitchers Bartolo Colon, Andy Pettitte, Kevin Millwood and Sydney Ponson could sign with new teams. Vladimir Guerrero may find a new place to play. The landscape of talent in major-league baseball could shift dramatically.

As it stands now, the Sox will have to sit on the sidelines and watch this happen. They can’t afford to take on a $12-to-$14 million dollar annual contract right now. They can’t even afford to re-sign all their current players.

They need to shed payroll. That means there will be trades that could shock Red Sox Nation in the upcoming months. Players previously thought to be untouchable could be sent packing.

Fans don’t respond well when superstars are forced to leave, but Epstein knows what the future holds. Ramirez isn’t going anywhere for the next five years unless the Sox eat a chunk of his bloated salary. Martinez could become much too expensive to keep after 2004. And there are serious doubts as to whether Garciaparra wants to remain in Boston.

Are the Sox willing to let their ace pitcher and star shortstop leave via free agency without getting any assets in return? I don’t think so. Duquette made that blunder with Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn and set the team back several years in the process.

Epstein is more likely to go the Seattle Mariners’ route. The M’s lost three of the game’s biggest names: Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Alex Rodriguez.

They got nothing in return for free-agent A-Rod but obtained key players in the deals for The Big Unit and Junior. Mike Cameron, Carlos Guillen, Freddy Garcia and John Halama all went to Seattle in those deals, and Seattle has remained competitive through the transition.

These will be difficult decisions, perhaps unpopular in the short term, but Epstein must act. How he handles these decisions will prove much more important than who he names to replace Grady Little.

Lewiston native Tom Caron covers the Red Sox for NESN.