Boston Red Sox

Let’s get one thing clear, the Red Sox cannot find replacements for Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre, and improve offensively. Martinez batted .400 against lefties, Beltre was the best player on the team. Good luck finding that level of production on the trade market.

As far as replacing Victor Martinez, there is one thing everyone should remember: The Red Sox have Jarrod Saltalamacchia right now. It would not take much to be an improvement.

The Red Sox are kicking the proverbial tires on veteran backstop Rod Barajas, according to FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi and MLBTradeRumors.com.

While the Red Sox reportedly made a bid to retain Victor Martinez behind the dish for at least the next couple seasons, they lost him to a more aggressive Detroit Tigers' organization early last Wednesday.

Now that catcher Victor Martinez is gone, where do Red Sox fans turn?

Who is going to be behind the plate next season. Will it be Varitek, Saltalamacchia....Kevin Cash?

These (okay, so hopefully not Kevin Cash) are all possible choices for the Red Sox in 2011. One thing has to be said, though: the market is incredibly short for catchers. If you want a grade A catcher, he's got to come up through the farm system, plain and simple.

I humbly present five possible catching scenarios that could happen for the '11 Sox.

Pretty much everyone knows about the two gems of this year's free agency period, Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford. Even though the pool is relatively weak this year, there are other big names out there. One of the most notable is that of Phillies right fielder Jayson Werth.

Werth had a career year this past season, hitting .296 with 27 home runs, 85 RBI, and a league high 46 doubles, en route to an eighth place finish in MVP voting. As such, there are many that could use his bat in the lineup.

Which teams have the best chance to land him, and who is the front runner?

Trades are a funny thing.

They are a part of every sport, and the one common characteristic that can describe their nature is their inherent volatility. Trades can be a savior to a team, bringing them to the pinnacle of success, or they can be the perpetual oppressor, blamed by fans for years of struggle and hardship. Sometimes, the same trade can be viewed either way, depending on the point of view of the fan.

No sport has such a voluminous history of transactions as America's pastime, so it's no surprise that deciding which were the absolute worst was no small task.

The Red Sox lost Victor Martinez to the Tigers because they were outbid by $8 million dollars over four years. That amounts to just $2 million per season. While the Red Sox were willing to offer Martinez the four-year deal he wanted, they weren't willing to go to $50 million for him. But the Tigers were. 

The Red Sox made two separate offers to Martinez: a three-year deal worth $36 million and a four-year deal worth $42 million.

I keep thinking to myself that Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has something up his sleeve. I keep thinking to myself there has to be a reason why he just Victor Martinez go without much of a fight.

Whether you think the Boston Red Sox was seemingly out to lunch on resigning Victor Martinez or the Detriot Tigers overpaid for a big bat that comes as a defensive liability, there is one thing for sure, Boston has a big bat to replace in their lineup.

Martinez was the only catcher in the MLB to bat over .300 while hitting 20 or more home runs in the season.

He was the number three hitter in their lineup and one of the most productive hitters on the team in the past few seasons, and he will be tough to replace.

One of the few bright spots of the Red Sox' 2010 season was Adrian Beltre's triumphant return to stardom.

In 154 games with Boston, Beltre hit .321 with 28 homers, 102 RBI and a .919 OPS. He combined his newly rediscovered offensive prowess with his Gold Glove defense for a whopping 7.1 Wins Above Replacement. It's not an exaggeration to say that the Red Sox might have finished below .500 without him.

It's official: free agent catcher Victor Martinez has signed a 4 year, $50 million deal with the Detroit Tigers, leaving a noticeable void behind the plate for the Boston Red Sox.