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Boston Red Sox: 13 Bold Predictions For The 2011 Season

You’d be hard pressed to find a team who did more to significantly alter their look this offseason than the Boston Red Sox. In fact, I’ll go on record right here: the Red Sox had the best and most momentous offseason of any team in baseball.

But that being said, there are a number of questions to be answered. Where do the new guys fit in? How will the rest of the squad be impacted? Who’s due for a good year in 2011?

Hopefully, I’ll shed some light on the state of all things Red Sox.

Also, pitchers and catchers report in less then a month…which sounds oh, so sweet. Theo knows what I’m talking about.

Dan is a Boston Red Sox and Celtics featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter by clicking this link.

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This past off season in baseball has been one full of player movement, with Jayson Werth kicking off the big dollar December by signing a contract full of zeroes with the Washington Nationals. Many players followed suit soon after.

A lot of players have changed teams, and many teams have changed their fortunes for it, but it is hard to say what this will all amount to on the baseball field as of right now.

One thing we can do, however, is look at each team’s signings and whittle down which were the best and worst signings for each.

So, here I spent hours to find out which signings were the best for each team, and which were the worst.

Without further ado, let us start off with the Arizona Diamondbacks…

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Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Carl Crawford has always had below-average power (13 HRs per in eight full seasons), and top-flight speed (50 steals per season). However, Crawford hit a career-high 19 bombs in 2010 while also posting a personal-best .188 ISO power (slugging percentage minus batting average).

After signing a monster seven-year, $142 million contract last month with the Boston Red Sox, the 29-year-old will likely bat second or third in a lineup featuring Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz. Given his lineup surroundings and Fenway’s short fence in right field, the left-handed hitting Crawford may finally surpass 20 home runs in 2011.

This, in addition to his history of durability (150-plus games in six of the last eight seasons), his ability to maintain a .300 batting average (something he’s done in five of the last six seasons), and his potential to swipe 50-plus bases give Crawford the nod over Carlos Gonzalez as our second-ranked outfielder heading into 2011.

If Crawford does indeed reach the 20-HR, 50-steal, .300 batting average plateau, he’ll be the first player to do so since Hanley Ramirez posted a ridiculous 29/51/.332 line in 2007.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

Fantasy Baseball Insiders’ 2011 Big Board:

• No. 1: Albert Pujols
• No. 2: Hanley Ramirez
• No. 3: Miguel Cabrera
• No. 4: Troy Tulowitzki
• No. 5: Adrian Gonzalez
• No. 6: David Wright
• No. 7: Evan Longoria
• No. 8: Ryan Braun

Previous articles from Fantasy Baseball Insiders:

• 2011 Projections: Adrian Beltre
• The Sub-2.50 ERA Curse: Why 5 Elite Starting Pitchers May Regress in 2011
• 2010 Batting Average on Balls in Play Leaders: What to Expect in 2011?
• 2011 Closer’s Corner: Papelbon, Cordero and Rivera Are the Only Reliable Options

Follow Fantasy Baseball Insiders on Facebook and Twitter.

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There is a plethora of speed on the base paths in Major League Baseball.

We all know Carl Crawford can swipe more bags in a single game than some might all season long, but is he the fastest player in the league?

While New York Mets fans will argue for Jose Reyes and Toronto Blue Jays fans will make the case for Rajai Davis, there are some other athletes in the league that may build quite an impressive resume in 2011 and beyond.

Beginning with the AL East, we’ll take a look at all the speed in the league by division as we break down who should be a valuable asset to his team in the upcoming campaign.

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As we fast approach the start of another baseball season, let’s return to a familiar question: Who’s better, the Yankees or the Red Sox? 

The Red Sox made more upgrades to their roster during the offseason, but the Yankees were the better team last year.  So where does that leave us?  Let’s take a look, position by position.

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As we near Spring Training, it’s about time to start making predictions and forming projections for each team. While there are still many free agents on the market, a sufficient amount have been signed in order to rank each team’s offense. 

In ranking the league’s best offenses, there are many aspects being taken into consideration.

The ability to get on base is essential. You can only have so many Mark Reynolds or Adam Dunn’s on your team before you start to lose efficiency.

However, the second major component is the ability to drive in runs. Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, and Juan Pierre are all great, but without some pop in the lineup, they are meaningless to an extent.

Finally, depth is a major contributor to the success an offense can achieve. If (when) Carlos Beltran gets hurt, who do the Mets have to back him up? He may play the majority of the games, but the other 30 odd games count just as much. 

With that, I’ll reveal my power rankings for the all 30 Major League Baseball teams. While the batting order may be incorrect, the players on each lineup are not. I bet you can guess number 30…

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Pitchers and catchers report in a little over three weeks. It’s been a short offseason for the Rangers and the Giants, but for everybody else, Spring Training can’t get here quick enough. In this latest installment of MLB Predictions, we will look at players that we think will make a huge impact on their respective teams this upcoming season.

Some of the players you are going to see have already been up to “the show” and some even had significant time last year, but some of the players you may not be familiar with because of the smaller markets they may play in or may wonder who will be taking over for departed free agents. Undoubtedly there will be omissions so feel free to add who you think should be on here. Enjoy!

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The 2010-2011 MLB off season was one for the books. Whether it was news regarding Carl Crawford’s free agency or whether or not Zach Greinke would be traded, there was never a dull moment this winter for baseball fans. Very few teams remain in the same position as they were in November.

While there are still a handful of significant free agents still on the market such as Carl Pavano and Vladimir Guerrero, it is time to reflect on the unfolding of this winter. Which deals were the most significant? Who were the winners? Who is going to regret their aggressive behavior down the road?

In this article, I will examine the 25 most significant transactions from free agent signings to trades to re-signings. These transactions are not ranked based on how good the player(s) involved were, but how much the transaction will affect the team’s outcome. 

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It’s hard not to be giddy with anticipation right now if you’re a Boston Red Sox fan. 

Coming off a frustrating season in which the team finished 7 games back in the AL East and had to watch the playoffs on their flat-screen TVs just like the rest of us, the Red Sox went out and acquired Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, two of the most coveted players in the game, both in the early part of their prime. 

Red Sox Nation has not seen such a major retooling of the lineup since the early 2000’s, when the team added Manny Ramirez (’01) and David Ortiz (’03), and in the process established themselves as a perennial 90-plus win team and championship contender.  And this time it happened in just a matter of days instead of several years.

Sure, the Red Sox still face some minor offensive questions heading into spring training.  Will Crawford bat leadoff or third?  Where will Jacoby Ellsbury hit in the lineup?  Will Boston have some struggles against left-handed pitching, given that Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis are their only dangerous right-handed bats?

But these concerns truly are minor.  The Red Sox are going to score runs, and they’re going to score runs consistently.  They were second in all of baseball in runs scored last season, and the combination of Gonzalez, Crawford, a healthy Ellsbury, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia should at least rival the production the team received from departed free agents Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre, along with the array of outfielders that frequently found their way into the lineup last year (Bill Hall, Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish, Jeremy Hermida, Mike Cameron, and Daniel Nava). 

The real reason the Gonzalez and Crawford additions should be celebrated is because they set the Red Sox lineup up well for the long run. 

Both players are under 30 years old, while Martinez and Beltre are on the wrong side of 30.  Crawford brings across the board production and skills, while Martinez becomes more and more one-dimensional as he gets older and is able to catch fewer and fewer games.  Gonzalez’s production in San Diego was held back by the worst ballpark for hitters in the majors, whereas Beltre, much like in 2004, is coming off a career year as he went in search of a new contract. (Beltre surpassed 100 RBIs and a .320 batting average in both his 2004 and 2010 contract years, but has not driven in 100 runs or hit above .276 in any other season since 2001.) 

But while GM Theo Epstein did very well to acquire two major assets who should serve the team well for years, the Red Sox 2011 season will all come down to the performance of the pitching staff, and the starting rotation in particular. 

The Red Sox finished 22nd in baseball in ERA in 2010. Few saw it coming, the Sporting News’ 2010 Red Sox preview, for one. The Sporting News wondered if the Red Sox “have enough offense” and their main concern with the pitching staff was “Who will be left out of the rotation,” since Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Clay Buchholz all seemed like strong options.  The Sporting News preview gave the Red Sox pitching staff an A grade–an evaluation which was the norm among baseball experts at the time.

Lester certainly held up his end of the bargain, and Buchholz developed into a dominating ace-caliber starter faster than even the most optimistic fan could have predicted.  Wakefield and Matsuzaka’s struggles should not come as too great a surprise.

The real problem was that Lackey struggled mightily in his move from the AL West to AL East, and no one anticipated that the bottom would fall out completely for Beckett.

The Red Sox also ranked near the bottom of the league (23rd) in bullpen ERA, which came as a major surprise after they finished in the top 10 in 2009.   While Daniel Bard established himself as the team’s closer of the future, Jonathan Papelbon had a sub par year, and no other reliever registered an ERA under 4.  Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez, who each played key roles in the bullpen in 2009, fell off considerably. 

Papelbon should rebound heading into a contract year.  And the Sox beefed up the bullpen with their offseason acquisitions of Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks.  Wheeler makes for a very solid addition.  He knows what it takes to succeed in the AL East, and has done quite well in each of the last three seasons in Tampa Bay.  While Jenks’ name recognition probably rates higher than his actual value at this point, it would not be surprising for him to register a strong year pitching in middle relief rather than the pressure cooker of the ninth inning. 

In the end, despite all of Epstein’s impressive moves this winter, the Red Sox 2011 season will be largely determined by two players that were already on the team last year: Lackey and Beckett.  There are real questions about whether each is breaking down physically and can return to their former level of performance. 

If Lackey and Beckett each continue to falter, Sox fans will have to hope for many 11-9 victories this summer. But if at least one of them can turn things around, the Red Sox have to be considered a World Series favorite. 

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The Boston Red Sox celebrated the winter holidays as the clear winner of baseball’s hot stove season.  A trade for slugger Adrian Gonzalez and the signings of the athletic Carl Crawford and former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks were big moves designed to put Boston back atop the AL East.

The Sox were World Series champs in 2004 and 2007 but they’ve been division champs just once in the past decade.

Will the big moves be enough to push Boston to the top of baseball’s toughest division for the second time since 1996?  Here are 10 reasons why the Sox will win the AL East in 2011.

10) Squashing the Injury Bug

No team in baseball was hit as hard by injury as the 2010 Red Sox.

Two-thirds of the starting outfield, Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron, combined to play just 66 games.  The right side of the infield and heart and soul of the lineup, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, sustained season­­-ending injuries in midsummer.

There is no way the Sox bad luck on the injury front extends to another year, and the players returning from injury will be fresh, pumped, and ready to go in 2011.

9) The Rotation Goes Deep

For the second straight year, the Red Sox have five established major league starting pitchers entering the season. 

Jon Lester has developed into one of the top left-handed starters in baseball.

Clay Buchholz has progressed from a phenom with great stuff into a consistent major league winner.

Josh Beckett and John Lackey are both primed for bounce-back years after hard-luck 2010 seasons. 

At the back end of the rotation is Daisuke Matsusaka, who in his best season (2008) went 18-3 with a sub-3.00 ERA and finished 4^th in the AL Cy Young voting.  Not bad for a 5^th starter.

In case anyone falters, the franchise’s all time leader in innings pitched, 44-year-old Tim Wakefield, can still fluster a big league lineup and offer a change of pace to Boston’s power arms with his knuckleball.

8) Bullish on a Revamped ‘Pen

The signings of Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler adds two tough veterans to a bullpen that should be much improved from last year’s inconsistent group. 

Jonathan Papelbon is coming off his worst season, with a bloated 3.90 ERA, but entering his free agent year he should be focused and ready to close out games with more regularity.

7) Pressure’s Off for Papi

For years, the offense revolved around the power of Big Papi.

David Ortiz will hit lower in the lineup in 2011, likely in the sixth hole, and the spotlight won’t be on him but on the Sox new acquisitions. 

With an under-the-radar 32 homers and 102 RBI in 2010, Papi remains the best DH in the American League and should be way above average in the six spot.

6) Diminishing Returns in the Big Apple

The Yankees are old.  Derek Jeter’s best years are behind him, Alex Rodriguez hasn’t looked the same since injuring his hip, Jorge Posada can’t catch anymore, and Mariano Rivera, while still the best relief pitcher in the game, isn’t the lights-out closer he was in his prime. 

These aging Yanks are due to show their geriatric tendencies at some point, and problems with the starting rotation combined with an aging lineup could spell doom (well, third place) for the Bronx Bombers.

5) Back to the Farm in Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay is still loaded with young talent.  But even with blue chip youngsters like Desmond Jennings and Jeremy Hellickson stepping up, it won’t be easy for the Rays to overcome the loss of two cornerstone players, Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena. 

The Rays already have trouble scoring runs, having been no-hit twice in 2010.  Evan Longoria is a great player, but can he carry the lineup by himself?

4) The Need for Speed

No team in baseball has the speed Boston now has at the top of its lineup in Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.  

Two years ago, these guys combined to steal 130 bases. 

If Ellsbury comes back strong from his rib injuries of 2010, the Sox will have baseball’s two best thieves in their lineup, and it’s going to be fun to watch them wreak havoc on opposing pitchers and catchers.

3) Tito Knows Best

With new acquisitions, high expectations, and a team full of veterans with big egos, there’s quite a management challenge for the Red Sox skipper in 2011. 

Luckily the Sox have a great one in Tito Francona, winner of the first two World Series in Boston since the Great Bambino exchanged red stockings for pinstripes. 

Francona’s got big questions to answer with his batting order and his bullpen, but there’s little doubt he’s up to the challenge.

2) Going Gonzo for Adrian

The Sox have been pining after Adrian Gonzalez for years.  He spent half a decade carrying a mediocre lineup and wasting his opposite—field power in San Diego’s cavernous Petco Park. 

The lefty slugger should pepper the Green Monster with his inside—out swing and make Boston fans forget the heartbreak of losing the Mark Teixiera bidding to the hated Yankees. 

Scouts project Gonzo to have 50+ homer power playing half his games in Fenway and plenty of road games in hitter friendly parks in the AL East.

1) Cliff Lee Phills Sox Hearts with Gladness

The biggest knock on the 2011 Sox as currently constructed?  Too many lefthanded hitters. 

Five lefties project as regulars – Ellsbury, Crawford, Gonzalez, Ortiz, and JD Drew. 

That’s why Sox fans rejoiced when Cliff Lee chose Philly’s Brotherly Love over the Yankees Cold Hard Cash. 

With Lee and CC Sabathia, not to mention the possible return of Andy Pettitte, the Yankees could have had three tough lefty starters as Kryptonite to Boston’s new supermen. 

Instead, the Yanks are left looking at a rotation of Sabathia, Phil Hughes, the disappointing AJ Burnett, and beyond that prospects and uncertainty.  Pettitte must come back to give the Yankees some self-respect in their rotation, but even then the loss of Lee really stings.  This stands as the biggest reason Boston could win the division title for just the second time in this millennium.

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