DCRi wrote:

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I don't think you fellows understood my post, or I just wrote it poorly. What I am saying is that the Sox have to get two very good players to fill the holes or they will be an 85-win team.

There is not even a hole at 3B yet. Of course it's possible that we have some major injuries, and a few players have terrible seasons and we end up with 80-85 wins, but we were a 93-95 win team last season, and outside of LF, we have IMPROVED so far. Our starting pitching was Becket and Lestah and pray for weathah, and our bullpen wasn't that great. We didn't hit on the road (that's partly luck folks) and we did a poor job of hitting with runners in scoring position (largely luck). Sure, if Hermida plays LF, especially without a platoon partner, we're going to have some issues scoring, but this team is pretty good already, and if you're not trying to measure up to the 100-win Yankees, they're damn good. They might not beat the Yanks in 2010, but they'll get the players they need in order to win 95, and in the AL East, that's saying something.

ADD: a couple more things. I'd expect Youk, Pedroia, Beckett, Lester, Drew, Paps, Oki and Ellsbury to produce at least the same as a group. Of that group, only Lester and Ells significantly outperformed their career averages last year and they are still young and improving. The remainder of the bullpen and rotation (Delcarmen, RamRam, Dice, Buck, Wake, etc.) should end up with better numbers than the 2009 groups, even when you take into account injury replacements. We have improved at SS, and C no question (although Martinez won't hit all season like he did in August and September) and 3B shouldn't get worse and could conceivably get significantly better if either Lowell recovers somewhat, or we make an upgrade. LF is a problem but, as Tito said, we'll most likely have someone playing at the 7 on opening day. We tend to every year. They got work to do, but it's going to happen, and it's already a good team.