Boston Red Sox

When you are a 21-year-old baseball player with 18 games of professional experience under your belt and a team trusts you to take over as the starting third baseman in the middle of the American League Championship Series, odds are good that you have special abilities. 

When the Boston Red Sox signed Jonny Gomes last winter, he was billed not only as a destroyer of left-handed pitching, but as a guy who would be instrumental in cultivating their clubhouse culture.

If all you're looking for is a typical 150-200-word blurb, then this should do the trick.

After Murphy’s Law wrecked their 2012 season, everything went the Boston Red Sox’s way in 2013. They won 97 games, the AL East title, the American League pennant and, of course, the World Series.

Saying the Boston Red Sox have had a quiet offseason thus far into 2014 is an understatement.

To be frank, the Red Sox have not exactly been active in targeting some of the high-profile free agents who have been available during the offseason.

The Boston Red Sox have been awfully quiet this offseason. Too quiet, some might say.

Or, you know, not. To say they've been "too" quiet, Mr. Strawman, is to imply that the Red Sox have been quiet to a fault this winter. I'm not sold that's the case. 

In the midst of a number of splashy moves made around the MLB, the Boston Red Sox have remained very quiet this offseason.

Following its 2013 World Series crown, Boston could have been in a dire situation heading into spring training 2014.  The team had its share of free agents, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Two have already departed, and another may do so soon.

With a brand new World Series championship banner hanging on Yawkey Way, the Boston Red Sox have some pretty big shoes to fill as we move towards the 2014 MLB season.

This year, fans will be treated to an injection of youth with Xander Bogaerts likely taking over as the everyday shortstop and Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field.

It might be a likely assumption that the Boston Red Sox are set with the team they hope to carry into spring training in 2014.

The Red Sox have seen a number of changes from the roster that won them the World Series the year prior—the most notable being the losses of Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia via free agency.

In 2013, the Boston Red Sox turned from a last-place franchise into a World Series champion.

This sort of transformation, while rare and difficult, was the direct result of a number of key moves from general manager Ben Cherington—moves that combined incumbent stars with the right type of free agents to solidify what would be a championship team.

Looking forward to 2014, Boston will once more rely upon some magic.

In 2012, Boston’s dismal season and last-place finish in the American League East obscured the enormous progress made by their top prospects down on the farm.

Last season, though, everything clicked for the organization from top to bottom.