Much like the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox were once a for sure playoff contender but, in the past 3 years Boston has fallen tremendously. Starting with the firing of Terry Francona back in 2011 and the trade of former GM Theo Epstein, the Red Sox then signed Bobby Valentine to the take over at the helm in 2012. Well, that fail tremendously when the Red Sox traded away Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez to the Dodgers and Kevin Youkolis to the White Sox. They finished the season with 93 loses. Boston took the off season and revamped the lineup and brought in former Blue Jays skipper John Farrell signed Ace Ryan Dempster, Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes, Stephen Drew, and Shane Victorino. The Red Sox brought in the talent and potential to be a competitor but so did the competition. Boston will decide its own fate this year they could be the Cinderella story and go from worse to first or they could stay where they sat last October in last place. I believe Boston will make much needed improvement from last year and they will finish with a .500 season but, they will still finish at 4th or 5th in the division.
Potential Opening Day Lineup 1. Dustin Pedroia 2B 2. Shane Victorino RF 3. Mike Napoli 1B 4. David Ortiz DH 5. Will Middlebrooks 3B 6. Jared Saltalamacchia C 7. Jonny Gomes RF 8. Stephen Drew SS 9. Jacoby Ellsbury CF | Potential Opening Rotation 1. Jon Lester 2. Ryan Dempster 3. Clay Buchholz 4. John Lackey 5. Felix Doubront |