Boston Red Sox

BOSTON RED SOX

Last Year: 89-73, 3rd in AL East

Manager: Terry Francona 

PROJECTED LINEUP: 

C- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (S)

1B- Adrian Gonzalez (L)

2B- Dustin Pedroia (R)

3B- Kevin Youkilis (R) 

SS- Marco Scutaro (R)

LF- Carl Crawford (L)

CF- Jacoby Ellsbury (L)

RF- JD Drew (L) 

DH- David Ortiz (L) 

It's time to call a spade a spade with the state of Jonathan Papelbon: He either soon finds a way to get the "giddy-up" back on his fastball or his struggles on the mound will likely cost him his job during the 2011 season. With setup relievers Daniel Bard and Bobby Jenks available, the team is unlikely to let Papelbon keep imploding like he did last year.

Boston Red Sox baseball is a mere five days away, but before the season starts, it'll be good for Red Sox fans everywhere to catch up on their history.

The Red Sox have a lengthy past, as they were part of the American League's eight original teams in 1901. With that long history comes a very detailed record of trades and transactions.

I've been tasked to present 10 of the most maligned deals, and here they are.

Without question, first base is the deepest position for everyday players, and you should expect the top seven or eight first basemen to be drafted in the first two rounds of your 12-team league.

Some players on our list played 10-19 games at first base in 2010, which means the player may or may not qualify as a first baseman in your league. For example, Yahoo! leagues require a player to appear in at least ten games at that position in the previous year. Whereas for ESPN leagues, the requirement is 20-plus games.

The Red Sox had the most disappointing season of any team in baseball a year ago. 

General Manager Theo Epstein went out and was extremely aggressive in the offseason.  They went out and acquired Adrian Gonzalez via trade before the winter meetings.  Then they signed Carl Crawford to a seven-year $142 million contract.

Boston also made some under-the-radar signings to bolster the bullpen by signing Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler.

When Josh Beckett was traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2006, it was assumed he would be an Cy Young candidate and an ace for years to come. He was 25, an absolute hoss, and seemingly the reincarnation of Roger Clemens: a hard-throwing intimidator and strikeout king without fear.

John Boggs, the agent for Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez, arrived in Fort Myers yesterday afternoon. He didn’t waste any time getting down to business, as he met earlier today with Theo Epstein and Ben Cherington to discuss a contract extension for A-Gon.

Marco Scutaro was the "highlight" signing of 2009's offseason. For those who are true fans and/or have played the game, you know that he was not the big solution. In fact, he should never have been signed in the first place. He is simply overpaid and overrated. If the Red Sox did want to sign him it should have been at a much cheaper annual salary. 

For those who fancy themselves baseball analysts, two teams have been thrown around as World Series favorites since the Hot Stove season started heating up.

With Philadelphia’s pitching making headlines and Boston’s offense creating water cooler conversation, many are hoping for an NL/AL super postseason pair up.

While anything can happen in a series, never mind during the season, let’s take a look at what team has the advantage on paper headed into April 1.

Jonathan Papelbon was having a decent spring—that is, until his fourth outing, where he allowed three earned runs on a hit, three walks and a hit batter in just one third of an inning of work.

However, he followed up that performance with a clean inning of work against the New York Yankees. All is perfect in paradise? Not quite.