(me) “There is no objective reason for the Red Sox to look at 2012 as anything other than a great chance to win the World Series — the way they look at every season.”

(you) 2 for the last 92 only shows that your team is the epitome of FAIL.

I said they way they approach it, not the results. Some teams know that, barring an unpredictable miracle, they won’t compete for the championship, so they makes the moves they can afford and hope they sell some tickets and stay in contention for a few months. The Red Sox are one of a handful of teams who sit there every winter and try to figure out how to become good enough to have a realistic shot at the World Series. For pretty much every year under the current ownership, an objective Red Sox fan could enter the season with the idea that winning it all is a realistic goal. Same for a Yankee fan. My point is that I see this offseason no differently — they are trying to field a team that can win it all. The reason that they are not spending big on free agents is not that they’ve become cheap and stopped trying to win it all, it’s that they’ve spent a ton in recent years, some of it badly, and they have a core of talent that is good enough and young enough that they don’t need huge moves. Kepping Papelbon would have been utterly stupid at the price the Phillies paid, and Philly fans will learn this over time. Pujols, Fielder, Wilson, Buehrle, Reyes — all huge money but none of them the right fit for Boston or NY this offseason.

Are people saying “When did the Yankees become cheap” because they haven’t gone hog wild for free agents this winter? Of course not. The premise is the same for the Red Sox.

(me) A rotation of Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Bard and maybe Aceves is very competitive and could be outstanding

(you) Bard’s career high in IP is 77. There’s almost no chance the Sox let him start and finish the season in the rotation. Aceves pitched 114IP last year, are you going to count on him for 180+? Buccholz is starting his 5th full year in the pro’s and has only 1 healthy year on his resume. That’s a lot of wishful thinking for everything to go right.

You can raise questions, for sure. The first three guys have all been all-star caliber when healthy in recent years, and none of them is old. Lost in the Beckett September crap is that he had a phenomenal year until the final weeks. We’ll see. Bard was a starter in college and people seem to think he has the stuff and the arsenal to make the transition. CJ Wilson is just the latest case of many good arms who make that switch successfully. Beyond Bard and Aceves they clearly need to have rotation depth, whether it’s Matsuzaka returning, Miller, whomever. My point is that this rotation could be very good and does not cry out for a high-priced free agent addition. Like the bullpen, I expect there to be a couple of signings of veteran SPs, below the marquee level, as insurance. Not because the Sox have become cheap but because that’s all they need with the current roster.

The Yankees have a bunch of young guys. By “aging Yankee team” I am referring to core players like Jeter, ARod and Rivera. Clearly you have Cano, Granderson, Swisher, Teixeira, Gardner, Sabathia and Robertson in their primes and some good young talent on the verge. But I believe the left side of the infield will increasingly become a problem as those two keep slowing down. It is the reason the Yankees have not gone out to sign a bat for the DH role — they need to keep that spot fairly open so Jeter and ARod can get enough days when they don’t have to play the field.

The only Red Sox core player who is in that category is Ortiz. So whatever the roster numbers compute to, the Red Sox are a younger team in terms of their core, most important players.

None of that is to suggest the Red Sox look better than the Yankees right now. My point is that the division does not look to me like it did a few years ago, when you knew at least two teams would win about 95 or more games every year. I believe the rise of the Angels and Rangers makes the AL West no longer a weak division, and the East is not as daunting as it was a few years ago.

Can’t blame ownership for being a little gun-shy.

Meanwhile, the depleted Red Sox farm system has nothing to offer.

“There is no objective reason for the Red Sox to look at 2012 as anything other than a great chance to win the World Series — the way they look at every season.”

2 for the last 92 only shows that your team is the epitome of FAIL.

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Never said that they “invented” that…said that they were copying the Yankees’ latest trend. Just like they copied the Yankees’ high spending in previous years.

Face it…Boston is not a leader, only a follower. They will always be second best to New York or LA.

Is everyone’s thinking that the big moves happen later in the offseason? Cause that is really contrary to every other offseason…ever.

What was the Red Sox biggest problem last year? (Pitching)

How have they approached fixing that? (Not at all; even lost a massive piece of their pitching puzzle and replaced it with financially controllably no one.)

We’ll see…but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that big move…at least the one that makes this a BETTER team.

A rotation of Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Bard and maybe Aceves is very competitive and could be outstanding

Bard’s career high in IP is 77. There’s almost no chance the Sox let him start and finish the season in the rotation. Aceves pitched 114IP last year, are you going to count on him for 180+? Buccholz is starting his 5th full year in the pro’s and has only 1 healthy year on his resume. That’s a lot of wishful thinking for everything to go right.

I see an aging Yankee team that will have trouble repeating the Colon/Garcia/Nova results of last year

Average Ages:

Starting Lineup
Yankees – 29.7
Red Sox – 29.3

Pitching
Yankees – 29.7
ReD Sox – 28.4

As presently constituted, there really isn’t a difference. Why people seem to think the Yankees have zero young guys is beyond me.

Your first mistake is assuming the offseason is over and they are going with Melancon as their closer. I highly doubt he will be their closer when the season opens. They are in the opportunistic position of letting the market settle down now that the teams who like to spend big money all have their closers. I’ll bet the price of a guy like Madson will fall to the point of the Red Sox signing him for less than he has been seeking.

The rest of the team is deep and talented. They still need more arms in the bullpen and another RH bat to play some games in RF. A rotation of Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Bard and maybe Aceves is very competitive and could be outstanding. The offense will again be among the best in the league. Crawford has to be closer to his Rays level than what we saw in his first year in Boston.

They are tweaking instead of making big moves because that’s what this roster needs. They are obviously hoping the new manager and coaching staff have a major role in fixing whatever dysfunctional elements (beyond injuries) that led to their collapse.

When I look at the AL East, I see an aging Yankee team that will have trouble repeating the Colon/Garcia/Nova results of last year, a Tampa team rich in pitching that may not be able to win 90 games with that offense, and an improving Toronto team that could be the dark horse. There is no objective reason for the Red Sox to look at 2012 as anything other than a great chance to win the World Series — the way they look at every season.

And let’s not forget, one bad month took them from 10 games up to one game out of the playoffs. What do you think is more indicative of their talent level, the first five months or the last one? Their roster isn’t constructed yet. It’s not fair to assume that they’re gonna take a step back, OR take a step forward, or anything. I’m just saying, they don’t have *that* many holes. Fix the back end of the rotation and it’s at least a 90 win team again. That doesn’t guarantee them anything in the AL East, I’m aware of that.

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2011/12/13/source-red-sox-expect-to-go-over-luxury-tax-threshold/

ALL who are just going to get better with experience.

Meanwhile, the depleted Red Sox farm system has nothing to offer.

They replaced Papelbon with Melancon when they could have replaced him with Madson. Think about that.

They have made no attempt to fill ANY of the wholes they had last year (starting pitching, relief pitching, outfield).

If you think they are not taking a step back, you are crazy.

And by the way, they will be WAY MORE THAN ONE GMAE OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR.

However, no way Crawford is that bad again right? Does Ellsbury put up another MVP worthy season? There are a lot of questions with this team and unless everything goes their way, they won’t finish a game behind the Rays this year.