Boston Red Sox

Two huge differences for the Red Sox lineup this season: Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. Two huge players that the Boston team has been missing ever since they lost Ramirez and Damon. Gonzalez puts up about 35 HR and 100 RBI a year and is a large bat in the middle of the order. Not to mention that Fenway Park is basically built for the type of hitter that he is. He just had shoulder surgery this off-season but it shouldn't affect anything. Crawford has the potential to become a 20/20 guy this season. His speed is a lift to any team. Boston does not run nearly as much as Tampa does but he's going to be hitting behind guys who score and his RBI totals are going to rise. The rest of the offense looks sharp as usual. Top of the order with Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia who is consistently one the best second basemen in the league and  I don't see that changing. They need a healthy Papi to be even stronger but even if he isn't 100% there is still Mike Cameron on the bench who can come in whenever he is needed. Youkilis will be moving to third to make room for A-Gon.

The pitching staff also looks strong with a starting rotation of Lester, Beckett, Lackey, Buchholz, and Matsuzaka.  All these pitchers are capable of giving 6 innings a night and some even more. The bullpen is also strong. Daniel Bard, Bobby Jenks, Dan Wheeler, Hideki Okajima can all set up or just come in for relief. Lastly there's always Jonathan Papelbon. He had a down year last year when your look at ERA and walks but he still recorded 37 saves and had a consistent amount of strikeouts. I am going to be interested in seeing how Boston incorporates Time Wakefield into the games. He isn't the best but he's a special part to the team and can be useful when needed.

Injuries are always an issue when it comes to Boston and we'll see how they recover and if they can persevere. Drew, Ortiz, and Pedroia, among several others suffered from injuries in 2010 and if they can bounce back and stay healthy there's not a lot that other teams can do to stop the Sox this year.

At the end of the day the Red Sox, on paper, look like the unstoppable machine, immovable object. It's going to be a great year for baseball especially in the AL East and the Red Sox are on the way up: 1st in the AL East

Lineup
1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia
3. LF Carl Crawford
4. 1B Adrian Gonzalez
5. 3B Kevin Youkilis
6. DH David Ortiz
7. RF J.D. Drew
8. C Jared Saltalamacchia
9. SS Marco Scutaro

To go along with what I've said I worked with Bryan McFarland to come up with what we both thought would be ideal for this team. here is the link to his thoughts:
http://thebestofme618.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/boston-red-sox/