This situation in the OF parallels my thought on the pitching depth.  The Sox didn't adequately address their pitching depth (The Yanks have 7 viable starters and 2 excellent prospects sitting in AAA as the Rays have Price, Shields, Hellickson, Moore, Niemann, Davis, and Cobb as quality pitching depth), so the second one of the Big 3 gets injured, they'll be in trouble.

Compare it to the outfield situation.  The Sox never were inclined to get a quality #4 OF who could rake lefties and hold his own against righties, so now Crawford is out for awhile, and all the Sox have is Ellsbury, Sweeney (who is a great #4 OF, but should be ok playing full-time until Kalish is ready) and McDonald who can hit lefties, but gets eaten up alive by righties, and Aviles, who has hardly ever played the OF before.  They could have or should have been more prepared than this in my opinion.

Maybe Cody Ross's price will come down - not that he's a savior, but he's viable until Crawford returns, but other than that, what's left?  Spilborghs?  Hope that Linares is healthy enough to contribute?  Hope that whichever OF gets released in spring training by another club is better than what they have?  Perhaps that's the best answer?

It's hard to say that the Sox will miss Crawford, especially if he performs like he did last year, but this might even be a downgrade from 2011 Carl Crawford.

Again, not laying any blame at Ben's feet, and I get the ownership doesn't want to tie into huge contracts this year - I get it - I don't like it, but I get it, but there's no reason why the Sox couldn't do some quality depth signings that don't break the bank.