Sportsfrog.com

(thanks to Swamp Monster EdRomero)

Because there’s not enough on the Internet about the Red Sox…

Hitting: Francona may be leaning towards starting Julio Lugo at shortstop. Doing this gives the overpaid veteran a chance to redeem himself and allows Jed Lowrie to play 3rd if Mike Lowell can’t come back right away. Once a guy over 30 starts getting injury problems, I expect the problems to continue. David Ortiz and Lowell will be valuable cogs in the lineup, but the Sox will need to depend on their lineup’s depth throughout the season. Lowrie may show more power this year since he’s recovered from a wrist injury that affected him last year to play

Speaking of injuries, JD Drew says his back still hurts, so Rocco Baldelli will quickly get the opportunity to remind fans of how great he was before being struck with injuries. In center, pitchers seemed to figure out Jacoby Ellsbury, so it’s time to see if he can adjust or just be a good 2007 heart-throbby memory. Jason Bay quickly became a valuable part of the lineup and is now in a contract year so expect a big season from him. Depth could be a problem here with no more Coco Crisp, injury concerns, and no super prospect waiting in the minors.

Speaking of problems, Jason Varitek is back for another season. He has some excuses for last year – illness, injuries, divorce, alleged affair with a NESN personality – but the biggest factor for his ineptitude is that he’s an old catcher. He either needs to find an untraceable steroid or get more time off. Josh Bard is back as a backup. The good news is two of the last three seasons he was a good hitter; the bad news is last year was the bad one where his hitting could be best described as Varitekian.

I knew I forgot something; Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia should continue to be pretty good.

Pitching: Jon Lester became the ace of the pitching staff last year while Beckett stopped pitching like an ace. After seeing Lester get better and stronger as the season progressed, optimistic Sox fans see him as a perennial All Star (unless he breaks down like other young pitchers have). Daisuke Matsuzaka won 18 games last year despite taking every hitter he faced to a full count and pitching every inning with runners on base. He may finally get burned for pitching like this, or he may continue to progress as he continues to adjust to American baseball. With Dice-K improving and Beckett getting his playoff magic back, the Red Sox may have the best top of the rotation in baseball. After the top three, there’s a future Hall of Famer and former All Star starter coming back from injuries, a few prospects who could step in or become trade bait, and good ol’ Tim Wakefield, who every year seems to have a good run of games (followed by a bad run).

Jonathon Papelbon anchors a bullpen which should be improved with a full season of the promising Justin Masterson, the additions of Takashi Saito and Ramon Ramirez and the subtraction of Mike Timlin

Fantasy Impact: Hazel Mae no longer works for NESN.

Interesting factoid: The Red Sox have 3 successful closers on their roster, which is the same number of runs scored by Ed Romero for the 1988 Red Sox. 1988 was John Smoltz’s rookie season.