Boston Red Sox

As Spring Training nears closer, baseball fever is beginning to run rampant. With only one week left in the NFL season, it's only a matter of time before people start looking south to Florida for hints at what's to come in the new season.

Over the next couple of months, I'll be breaking down a division each week before making my final predictions for how the season is going to turn out.

First up, the loaded AL East.

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The Boston Red Sox and their fans have had a pretty rough go of it lately.

Not only did the squad fail to qualify for the postseason in 2010, but the franchise also lost Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez over the winter.

Beantown's had to watch a different team hoist the World Series trophy for three consecutive years, a run that includes a crown for their revolting rivals to the south, the New York Yankees.

Now it's down two key contributors from an underachieving '10 roster.

Of course, you could point to the bigger picture.

Some potential Hall of Famers have had a hard time finding work this winter, while others have had to settle for rather humbling deals.

The Minnesota Twins signed 40-year-old DH Jim Thome to a 1-year, $3 million deal, and Tampa Bay came to terms with 38-year-old DH Manny Ramirez on a 1-year deal for just $2 million. Ramirez made $45 million over the past two seasons, so that's quite a pay cut.

It is the best day of the Hot Stove season—the day you slog out to the mailbox, brush the snow off the top, open the front door and discover a highly-anticipated package from Baseball America.

It is the day BA’s annual “Prospect Handbook” arrives at your home.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

As the 2011 Major League Baseball season is just over two months away, it's appropriate to start thinking about the key pieces for every team this season.

While we saw the Giants win the World Series with a pitching-heavy formula, their championship counterparts, the Texas Rangers, road Josh Hamilton's bat the majority of the way there.

Every team has high expectations coming into the season, and here is a list of players who will have to produce in order for their teams to meet them.

Be prepared for some surprises, as several big-name players have changed teams.

Yesterday, the Baseball Professor released an analysis on category scarcity over at FanGraphs.com. He broke down each of the five primary offensive categories in fantasy baseball (average, homers, runs batted in, stolen bases and runs scored) by position and on the basis of the players who achieved MLB-average (or better) in each category.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Kevin Youkilis’ current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 30.89, nearly 11 spots below where we believe he belongs.

It was a curious week for the Boston Red Sox, even if the biggest news to trickle out of Fenway Park was an announcement regarding bullpen walls.

Down south, a division rival appeared content to reassemble the Sox, circa 2004—Tampa's offer to Mark Bellhorn has yet to be confirmed, by the way—while in New York, the general manager publicly panned the team's most significant offseason maneuver.

The 2010 season for the Boston Red Sox was riddled with injuries and inconsistency. The club struggled to an 89-73 record and a third place finish in the competitive American League East. 

The Sox front office looked to revamp their rosters, and create a buzz around Boston, with an offseason spending spree. With the additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford the Red Sox will enter 2011 with the highest payroll in all of Major League Baseball.