A Sox and GYS Reboot?

Well, it has been a while. I am thinking that this off-season might have the flavor of some of the original posts here at GYS. The Red Sox had a terrible season. Their roster is gutted. They've got to make some moves.

So where to start? How about a typical Grieve-ous posting?

The big complaint is that the Sox cannot compete this year. While I say that it was disastrous last year, I do not see why they can't drastically improve. Here's how the lineup stands right now:

CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
3B Middlebrooks
LF Gomes
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
RF Kalish/Nava
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco
1B Mauro Gomez

The top of the lineup is solid, and while the free agent market is thin, there are some opportunities out there. Right now there is active discussion about Nick Swisher and Mike Napoli. Let's plug them into the lineup...

CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
3B Middlebrooks
RF Swisher
1B Napoli
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
LF Gomes
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco

That's a pretty good 1-7. Weak hitting at SS, and LF is unpredictable. There are many teams that would take their chances with this lineup.

There is also talk about the Sox going after Hamilton. That would either make Ellsbury trade-able or he could be moved to left field (making Gomes a platoonable outfielder for the Sox). The lineup then is DANGEROUS.

LF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
CF Hamilton
3B Middlebrooks
RF Swisher
1B Napoli
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco

Now the starting pitching as it stands today.
Lester
Buchholz
Lackey
Doubront
Morales

If Lester can bounce back (and this is more likely than not...Farrell is returning), this could be an imposing 1-2-3. Doubront was very good until late in the season when he tired. Morales is the number 5...they could go with him or look elsewhere to strengthen the rotation.

The pen is a bit of a mess, but they still have some quality out there. Farrell might be able to do something with Bard as a setup guy or closer, and Bailey should be healthy out of the gate.

In a division with an aging Yankees team (that will still be good and most likely win the division), an Orioles team that rode a large wave of 1-run wins, and a Rays team that can't hit all the well, the Sox have a shot at number 2 in the division. How will the other divisions play out? Who knows? At this point, I would look at the possibilities and say that they could very well contend this year.