Your "Take" on the 2012 Season

There are so many possibilities out there I'm not sure why so many scoff at being able to find the right mix to put this team back in contention. Signing Greinke adds a #1 starter to a mix that already will include a reinvigorated Lester and Buchholz (under Farrell), a motivated innings eater (Lackey), and several young arms like Doubront, Morales, De La Rosa, and Webster. That's three front end starters, a veteran innings eater, and a lot of potential for the back end. That makes the weakest part of the 2012 club into a strength.

Filling the middle of the order bat will be a tough chore, that's certain. I'm on the Upton bandwagon but maybe the FO is planning to spend Thanksgiving with someone nobody has on their radar to fill that spot. If you supplement the rotation through free agency, you suddenly have pieces to deal in such a deal, along with other names from the major/minor league teams. This is where proper evaluation comes into play, so that you're dealing Pedro prospects (Pavano, Rose) or Schill prospects (meh) instead of Adrian Gonzalez prospects (Kelly, Rizzo).

Continue to fill the other holes using the other avenues available. Evaluate who's the best fit and health risk from players like Victor Martinez, or Justin Morneau and take them as a salary dump to fill first base. Or maybe you go in the opposite direction, if you think you can flip the switch on him, and see what can be done to acquire a Justin Smoak. I'm not a fan of Napoli after digging deeper, but still certainly an option if the deal is right.

Plenty of pieces in the bullpen behind Bailey can be included in deals if a GM believes they can get a Melancon back to his Houston form, or a Bard back to his 2011 form, or keep Aceves from being crazy. None are cornerstone pieces, but you find the right person who believes in one of them then the possibility exists to fill another hole somewhere else.

Call Boras and find a number between Adam Jones and Matt Kemp that keeps Ellsbury in the core long term. If not, there's another piece to shop in the right deal to someone who believes in his 2011 rather than his 2012.

Not sold on Salty long term because of his defensive issues, sign Martin or inquire on Suzuki in a trade....and then you have another chip to deal to fill another hole.

There are so many options out there it's completely plausible to believe that this team should contend in 2013 if they work their tail off this winter to identify and acquire the right players. To me, that will be the key thing to watch this offseason: if the front office moves quickly to bring the right mix into the fold. Even if it means spending a little beyond their comfort zone in some cases, if it's the right player you make it happen now that you have flexibility. It hurt to give up the top of our farm, but in the end we acquired a HOF pitchers in Pedro and Schill. It hurt to sign a player to a $20M/yr deal, but without Manny this team is still trying to break through on a championship most likely. Sometimes it's outside your comfort zone, but if it's the right player, you bite the bullet.

That's just my take. I respect the opinions of others who've provided plausible arguments. Hopefully the FO is hard at work already finding the right moves to get this team back to the contending status that this passionate fan base deserves.

Right on buffs4444! Right on!!

Buffs, I'd be stunned to see the Sox go after Greinke. He has his issues and I seriously doubt we'll see him in a big market city. My guess is he re-signs with the Angels or Texas makes a play for him. I doubt the Sox or Yanks go after him.

What the Sox have are a bunch of middle relievers to deal, and you're saying deal the secondary prospects and you site Pavano and Armas (or was it Rose) vs Kelly and Rizzo, but keep in mind that Pavano was a better prospect than Kelly ever was and Rizzo was made expendable by the thought that AGon would be manning 1B thru 2018 swatting 35 HRs and hitting .300 every year. Didn't happen.

And to make it worse, the Sox dealt Miles Head, their other best 1b prospect (who's now at 3b).

The Sox will do some band-aid solutions, such as probably going after Torii Hunter for a couple of years, or signing Napoli, or dealing for Ike Davis, etc. They'll pick up a starter via free agency, but it won't be a big name, but somebody they can plug into the rotation for a few years.

My best guess is that when the Sox are ready to become a serious contender to have a shot at making noise in the post-season, their rotation will have De La Rosa, Barnes, Webster, Buchholz, and hopefully another young pitcher obtained in a deal. Workman could be in the rotation, and/or perhaps the Sox draft a fast moving pitcher in this upcoming draft.

The offense by then will have Bogaerts, Bradley, Middlebrooks, and Brentz, perhaps with Swihart and Lin (the SS) knocking on the door, and hopefully a couple of acquired patient hitting slugging bats for 1b and DH.