After writing about the Cubs a couple days ago, it’s now time to talk about the team I picked to beat them in the World Series: the Boston Red Sox. Now let’s look at the defending World Champs to see if they have areas to improve before the trade deadline.

First, among position players, their only two potential weaknesses are at SS and C. At SS, Julio Lugo is getting on base really well this season, but his defense is once again suspect, at least according to the advanced statistics. He’s at -2 FRAA, 83 Rate, and .770 RZR. That RZR ranks last among MLB shortstops. The bad news is that Lugo is still signed for 3 more years, so he needs to play if he’s to provide value (either on the field or in trade). If the Sox end up looking for alternatives, they might not have to look any farther than Jed Lowrie. Lowrie has hit at both AAA (.279/.375/.435) and in the majors (.310/.340/.476). Plus, he’s held his own on defense, though in very limited time.

At catcher, Jason Varitek’s age might have caught up to him. He’s striking out 26.9% of the time. While that’s not much worse than his career 22.9%, his walk rate has also dropped to 8.6% (career 10.6%). That amounts to a career low 0.35 BB/K (career 0.52). On top of it, his liner rate has dropped to 11.7% (career 20.4%). However, there aren’t really any alternatives. Even if there were options, could you see the Red Sox choosing someone over Varitek? (On the other hand, did you expect them to trade Nomar Garciaparra?)

On the mound, the Red Sox have an embarrassment of riches. With Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz, and Bartolo Colon, the Red Sox have plenty of SP to choose from, but that hasn’t stopped them from coming up in the C.C. Sabathia trade rumors. Moving to the later innings, the Red Sox also have a full stable of options: Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, and Manny Delcarmen among others. If they choose to acquire a pitcher, more power to them.

Potential holes to fill: C, SS

Potential trade bait: Jed Lowrie, Coco Crisp (he's still here?), Ryan Kalish, Lars Anderson, Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson, Michael Bowden (Buchholz and Masterson only listed for a potential Sabathia deal)

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four years, but this one seems to be more of a Theo Epstein construction than the last one. The transition to becoming a team based on its farm system is underway, and Theo looks to be continuing the Red Sox winning ways for many years to come.

Strengths

Well, for one, they’re the defending champions. Two, unlike their last World Series winner, most of this team is under contract for next year. Third baseman Mike Lowell is the only key player that is a free agent after Curt Schilling signed a one-year $8M deal, which can increase up to $13M if he earns all of the bonuses.

When talking about the Red Sox, the conversation usually starts at the middle of the lineup. When David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez have been in the middle of the order for as long as they have, it’s hard not to start there. Both of these players were perceived to have slumped this year, but Ortiz’s “slump” was actually a career year. It might be the first year in four that he didn’t hit 40 home runs, but his OBP climbed up to .445, a huge jump from his previous career high of .413 set last year. Plus, his SLG only fell 15 points from .636 to .621. Hitting 52 doubles makes up for the drop in home runs. Meanwhile, Manny really did slump, having the worst year of his major league career since he had 53 at bats as a 21-year old. When your worst season is .296/.388/.493, you know you’re good. Papi and Manny were given ample opportunities to drive in runners because the Greek God of Walks Kevin Youkilis, and his .390 OBP, was batting in front of them.

PECOTA darling Dustin Pedroia overcame a slow start (.182/.308/.236 in April) to hit .317/.380/.442 and take home the IBA AL Rookie of the Year award. Pedroia wasn’t the only homegrown prospect to make an appearance for the Red Sox. He was joined by Manny Delcarmen, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester. Ellsbury started the year on fire at AA, where he hit .452/.518/.644 in 73 at bats, before cooling off at AAA. In 363 at bats in the International League, Ellsbury hit .298/.360/.380. During a September call-up, he again caught fire with a .353/.394/.509 line in 116 major league at bats. He wasn’t the only Red Sox rookie to have a hot start to his major league career as Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second major league start. Buchholz posted ERAs of 1.77, 3.96, and 1.59 in AA (86.2 IP), AAA (38.2 IP), and MLB (22.2 IP). Delcarmen was up to stay in mid-June and proved he belonged with a 2.05 ERA in 44 relief innings. Last but not least, Lester spent the off-season recovering from lymphoma, and after proving his health in AAA Pawtucket, he rejoined the Red Sox rotation in late July and pitched his way to a 4.57 ERA in 63 innings.

Of course, Ortiz, Ramirez, Youkilis, and the youngsters couldn’t have done it without their outstanding pitching staff. Josh Beckett finished second in the IBA voting for AL Cy Young behind C.C. Sabathia, but finishing second for the Cy Young still requires a phenomenal year. Beckett definitely had that with a 3.27 ERA over 200.2 innings. He was backed by Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and the two youngsters Buchholz and Lester. Schilling only threw 151 innings due to an injury and the Red Sox massive lead in the AL East, while Matsuzaka disappointed some in his first big league season. Before you get too down on Matsuzaka, a 4.40 ERA when half of your games are in Fenway Park isn’t a bad thing. He’s my candidate to take a massive step forward a la Beckett this season. All six guys that have already been mentioned will most likely be back in 2008 (unless the Red Sox find some reason to turn down Wakefield’s perpetual $4M team option). Since the Red Sox are well-known for their sabermetric understanding, they will find ways to get all six guys into the mix. The scenario I envision is Wakefield in the pen and spotting in for Lester and Buchholz to keep the innings off their young arms. Of course, any injury to a SP would force the remaining five to take their turns every time through the rotation.

Backing up the rotation in the later innings is a phenomenal bullpen. Led by Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima, Terry Francona has it easy when he goes to the bullpen in the 8th and 9th innings. Plus, when you’ve got Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Kyle Snyder, and whoever gets left out of the rotation, it’s not like the earlier innings are hard to endure.

Concerns

World Series MVP Mike Lowell is a free agent. While much of the talk is about Alex Rodriguez right now, the Red Sox have expressed interest in re-signing Lowell. If Lowell signs elsewhere, talk will surely head to Rodriguez, but don’t forget that Youkilis can play third base, which means they can bring in someone to play either one of the corner infield spots. There aren’t really any good first basemen on the free agent market, but they could always get Ortiz out on the field. Before you think about his “horrific” defense, putting him at first frees up the DH spot for Manny. If you replace LF Ramirez, 3B Lowell, and 1B Youkilis with LF Coco Crisp/Ellsbury, 3B Youkilis, and 1B Ortiz, do you really lose anything on defense? Clay Davenport’s defensive metrics suggest that you actually gain defense with this arrangement, and whatever you lose on offense is okay because the Red Sox would still be the best team in the AL East and a good bet to return to the postseason.

Last offseason, Julio Lugo was brought in to provide good offense and defense from the shortstop spot? He provided neither. With $27M and three years left on the deal, he’s not exactly easily dealt either. The Red Sox best decision would be to give him another shot next year and hope he can prove his worth over the first half of the year. Regardless of his first half performance, their midseason decision would be based on Jed Lowrie. If Lowrie can continue his hot hitting (.298/.393/.503 split between AA and AAA) next year, he’ll be an easy choice to replace Lugo. If Lugo performs poorly, it’s time to cut bait and replace him with Lowrie. If Lugo performs well, it’s time to trade him and replace him with Lowrie.

Overall

After a World Series championship, it’s easy to expect the Red Sox to put forth a valiant effort to repeat. While they’re expected to make it back to the postseason, everyone knows that the postseason is a crapshoot so it’s anyone’s guess what will happen. Meanwhile, the Red Sox have the decision of whether or not to bring back Mike Lowell as a luxury item (they don’t need him) and how to handle their shortstop situation. Next offseason will be more interesting with Manny’s and Jason Varitek’s contracts expiring. In the meantime, Red Sox fans, enjoy your championship and I’ll expect to see you again next postseason.

Standard Information (Yahoo! Defaults)
12-Team, 5x5, Mixed League
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, U, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P
Stats: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP
Limits: 1250 IP & 162 G

Only places where the rankings were changed will be mentioned.

Catchers
Fourth Tier
4. Michael Barrett, Chicago Cubs
*5. Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit Tigers
6. Kenji Johjima, Seattle Mariners
*7. Ramon Hernandez, Baltimore Orioles

The 4th and 5th tiers have been combined because there just isn't much of a difference between the four players.

First Basemen
Seventh Tier
*11. Frank Thomas, Toronto Blue Jays
12. Adam LaRoche, Pittsburgh Pirates
13. Lyle Overbay, Milwaukee Brewers
14. Richie Sexson, Seattle Mariners
*15. Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres

Thomas is down from the sixth tier, and Gonzalez is up from the eighth tier. Remember that Thomas is not eligible at 1B. It was just the most logical position to list him with.

Eighth Tier
...
*20. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
*21. Ryan Shealy, Kansas City Royals

I added Youkilis and Shealy to the end of the list because they're close enough to the rest of the 8th tier.

Second Basemen
Second Tier
2. Howie Kendrick, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
*3. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
*4. Orlando Hudson, Arizona Diamondbacks
*5. Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles
*6. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
*7. Ray Durham, San Francisco Giants
*8. Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers

Moved up nearly the entire 3rd tier (minus Kelly Johnson and Ryan Freel) to join Mr. Kendrick in the 2nd. Also, I found the reason I had Brian Roberts down so far. I had a very low AVG projection for him, which was completely out of line with his recent history. Now he's up closer to the top where you'd expect him.

Third Tier
9. Ryan Freel, Cincinnati Reds
*10. Tadahito Iguchi, Chicago White Sox
11. Kelly Johnson, Atlanta Braves

After everyone left, Iguchi joins the outfielders masquerading as 2B. (Actually, Johnson will play second base this year unlike Freel. He just doesn't qualify here until about April 15.) 

Fourth Tier
12. Julio Lugo, Boston Red Sox
13. Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins
*... 

These two standout from the other guys that were in the fourth tier, so the rest are booted down.

Third Basemen
Third Tier
*9. Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
10. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves

Gordon drops out of the second tier to join Chipper in the third. Don't expect to draft Gordon if you're in a competitive league. I saw him go in the 7th round yesterday.

Fourth Tier
*11. Scott Rolen, St. Louis Cardinals
12. Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati Reds

Rolen also experiences a drop down to the cleared out fourth tier, which means that the remainder of the fourth tier now constitutes the fifth tier.

Replacement Level
82 R, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 14 SB, .282 AVG

First Tier
1. Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
Runs unmatched by any other 2B, HR unmatched by any other 2B, and RBI unmatched by any other 2B all wrapped in one package. Hands down, top fantasy 2B.\

Second Tier
2. Howie Kendrick, Los Angeles Angels
Unbelievable batting averages throughout the minors: .318, .368, .367, .384, .342, .369, plus he's developing some power to go with it.

Third Tier
3. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
4. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
5. Orlando Hudson, Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Ray Durham, San Francisco Giants
7. Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers
8. Kelly Johnson, Atlanta Braves
9. Ryan Freel, Cincinnati Reds
*10. Brian Roberts, Baltimore Orioles

Kinsler provides extra power for the position. Cano lacks the steals, but makes up for it with batting average. Hudson gets a few extra runs while sacrificing a few RBI. Durham's age and previous seasons makes 2006 scream fluke. If Weeks can stay healthy and play better defense, he can become one of the best second baseman over the next few years. Johnson doesn't qualify at second yet, but if he wins the job, he'll provide strong numbers at second base. Freel makes up for the power outage with monster stolen base numbers if he wins a starting outfield spot in Cincinnati. Roberts should put up numbers very similar to Freel.

Fourth Tier
11. Tadahito Iguchi, Chicago White Sox
12. Chone Figgins, Los Angeles Angels
13. Freddy Sanchez, Pittsburgh Pirates
14. Luis Castillo, Minnesota Twins
15. Julio Lugo, Boston Red Sox
16. Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins
17. Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds

This group of players contain several guys that came out of nowhere last year to put up big numbers - Sanchez, Uggla, and Phillips - who will most likely come back down to earth. Iguchi has been consistently solid since coming over from Japan: 80 R, 15 HR, 70 RBI, 13 SB, .280 AVG. Figgins provides major steals, covering up for his poor AVG and RBI total. Freddy Sanchez is the exact opposite in using his AVG to make up for his lack of steals. Castillo and Lugo are pretty similar with Castillo providing slightly better AVG and Lugo a few more home runs. Uggla provides a little more power than the rest of the guys in this tier, but his AVG brings him back to the pack. Phillips has streaky plate discipline, which can hurt his production, but he's still solid across the board.

*Brian Roberts was originally a member of the 4th tier, but I looked into it after JoshQPublic questioned his placement and moved him up into the 3rd tier.