Theo Epstein

There has been a lot of hype about the Red Sox and their pitching and defensive upgrades this year, but because of all the focus on the defense, many people are claiming that the Sox will have a lower caliber offensive season. While the Beantown boys may have lost a key player this offseason, they spread the offense out among multiple players, while improving the defense as well. Overall, the offense will not be worse, and may in fact be better than the 2009 version. Ahead is the 2010 Red Sox projected line up, 1-9, compared to their 2009 counterparts.

Few teams in Major League baseball enter Spring Training dealing with both sky-high expectations and lingering scrutiny . But after an off-season makeover eschewing thump for pitching and defense, the Boston Red Sox begin their quest to return to the top of the Major League mountain with plenty of uncertainty. Do they have enough to overtake the Yankees?

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This Article Was Originally Published at GetOutofMyBallpark.com

With pitchers and catchers reporting TOMORROW (as well as many of the guys already in camp), it's time that we take stock of what has happened to the Red Sox in the past few months and accept some realities.

Jason Bay is gone. He's a Met now. The Sox let go of a guy who hit 36 home runs and had 119 RBI and replaced him with Mike Cameron.

Theo Epstein gets more bang for his buck than Brian Cashman.

Temporarily setting aside the century-old Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, let's put into perspective the decade-long Cashman-Epstein rivalry.

There is no rivalry. Beyond Epstein's perennial duping of Cashman in his many faux free-agent pursuits, the former dominates the latter where it really matters: the bottom line.

Comparing each General Manager's potential 2010 payroll with his prospective 25-man roster's 2009 production reveals Epstein's superiority.

When did Theo Epstein become so smug?

If you listen to the Boston GM these days, his off-season moves were just short of scintillating and have the Red Sox poised for a big run in 2010.

He's either had too much to drink, or if he doesn't, he needs to down a couple real quick.

As some of us Sox fans might remember, the Evil Empire outbid the Red Sox all of last winter and, in turn, won itself another World Series. Many people, myself included, figured that the Sox would end up responding this year.

Well, my friends, it appears that is not the case. With issues at the dish last year, names like Jason Bay and Matt Holliday on the market, and plenty of revenue, the Sox seemingly downgraded their lineup this year.

This article was first reported at Boston Sox Journalism.

The Boston Red Sox certainly proved one thing this offseason: there is no such thing as a "bridge year" in Beantown.

The Red Sox opened their wallet, made investments, and acquired players either through trade or free agency that could be a huge help to the team in 2010 and for years to come. Today, I will be running down each acquisition and what it means for the Red Sox starting in April.

Recently, the Boston Red Sox traded utility first baseman Casey Kotchman to the Seattle Mariners for a minor league player and Bill Hall.

Hall hit .201 last year between the Mariners and the Milwaukee Brewers and is scheduled to make $8.4 million in 2010.

In other words, Bill Hall is a complete waste of money.

I'm definitely no Casey Kotchman fan (the worst trade of 2009 was LaRoche-Kotchman trade, in my opinion), and I was begging for his trade all offseason, but is Bill Hall really all that Theo can get in return?

Recently, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay signed a new contract with the New York Mets for four years and $66 million.

Why the Mets wanted to overpay for an average hitter, I don't know.

Jason Bay was instantly beloved by the Fenway Faithful after being acquired on Trade Deadline 2008, which saw the Public Enemy No. 1 in Boston, Manny Ramirez, leave for Los Angeles.

The Baseball America Prospect rankings were released last week, a list coveted by fans and media, but otherwise superfluous for the organizations themselves, who have their own rankings and plans for their players.

The Red Sox minor league system has some gems, but the conclusions that BA came to should be slightly disturbing. The list of the top ten prospects, as I say, seems strong, with names that we have heard regularly, such as Casey Kelly, the shortstop-turned-pitcher, and Jose Iglesias, the first round pick and shortstop of the future.