[Zen653]

As greedy as this sounds, I don't think the Red Sox should settle for two World Championships in four years. Let's build a dynasty. Let's be the first team since the 98-99-00 Yankees to win consecutive championships.

In order to boost our chances of repeating as World Series Champions, we should bolster the starting rotation, bullpen, and middle of the batting order.

Starting rotation: We don't know what we'll get out of Matsuzaka next year, and it's too risky to go into next season with four question marks in the rotation. It would help tremendously to add a starting pitcher who can give us 7 strong innings during the playoffs. After Beckett, we didn't have that this year. While names like Johan Santana are being thrown out there as potentially available, I don't think the Red Sox should surrender the youth that it would take to nab him (probably Buchholz, Lester, Lowrie and Crisp.) Epstein could be better off targeting someone like Jake Westbrook who has proven himself in October, or re-signing Clement as a reclamation project. He could also just bring Schilling back for the 1 year/$13 million that he requested. Given the dearth of free agent pitching available, it's actually a good deal to bring someone like Schilling back for just a one year commitment. He can still pitch in October and he posted a sub-4 ERA in the AL East. That's not bad at all.

Bullpen: Hideki Okajima isn't going to be as successful next year. Hitters will figure out his funky delivery and he'll need some help in the 7th and 8th innings. In 2007, he was severely overworked both during the regular season and the playoffs. To preserve his effectiveness, the Red Sox should rest him more next year, and try to add at least one additional elite setup man. The Japanese market might be the best place to look for this help. A lot of cost-effective Japanese relief pitchers have had success in the major leagues. We were fortunate to get past the vastly superior Cleveland Indians bullpen.

Offense: The Red Sox somehow managed to win the World Series with down years from Ramirez, Lugo, Crisp and Drew, a mediocre year from Varitek, and a down year (production and power-wise) from David Ortiz. If Mike Lowell returns next year (a huge if), there's no guarantee that he'll repeat his performance of 2007. I also doubt that we can expect much more out of Pedroia, Ellsbury and Youkilis who were all great for the most part. The bench didn't contribute much of anything outside of a strong April by Alex Cora and an okay second half for Bobby Kielty.

With Manny Ramirez getting older, and a year away from free agency, the Red Sox will need to replace his bat with someone capable of protecting David Ortiz. From a purely statistical perspective, Alex Rodriguez would be an excellent acquisition in that regard. For 2008, the Red Sox would have a 3-4-5 of Ortiz-Ramirez-Rodriguez. Ramirez would probably see his power numbers go up again with Alex Rodriguez hitting behind him. Then for 2009 and beyond, Ramirez would probably be gone but at least A-Rod would still be around to give the Red Sox a potent duo in the middle of the batting order. As someone who never bought into the negativity surrounding Rodriguez and his alleged inability to win, I think he would flourish in Boston for the next several years. He's not a bad person. He doesn't loaf around. The fans would embrace him if for no other reason than to stick it to New York. How do you say no to 50 homeruns and 150 RBI out of a position like shortstop or third base? The Red Sox are one of the few teams that can afford him without sacrificing other key components of the team. With Boras expected to ask for 10 years/$300 million, the Red Sox could probably get him at 7 years/$200 million, which comes out to about $28.6 million per year. Think of this as our opportunity to pull a Babe Ruth on the Yankees - add the best player in baseball for the rest of his prime.

In addition to signing Rodriguez, I think the Red Sox should make every reasonable effort to retain Mike Lowell. This might seem like overkill to some, but Lowell plays a Gold Glove-caliber defense, hits very well for his position, and plays an important role in the clubhouse. I think that Lowell would accept a slight hometown discount to remain in Boston. He seems to genuinely like it here. A guaranteed 3 years at $14 million per year, plus a team option for a fourth year that can become guaranteed with a certain number of plate appearances in the third year would likely get him to sign on the dotted line before even filing for free agency. (I think it will take $14 million a year since Lowell is clearly more valuable than J.D Drew.) The Red Sox should get this done as soon as possible. Lowell would play third base, Rodriguez would return to his natural position of shortstop.

These two free agent signings would give the Red Sox the following AAV payroll:

1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury ($300,000)
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia ($400,000)
3. DH David Ortiz ($12.5 million)
4. LF Manny Ramirez ($20 million)
5. SS Alex Rodriguez ($28.6 million)
6. 3B Mike Lowell ($14 million)
7. 1B Kevin Youkilis ($700,000)
8. RF J.D Drew ($14 million)
9. C Jason Varitek ($10 million)

10. INF Julio Lugo ($9 million)
12. INF Alex Cora ($2 million)
13. OF Coco Crisp ($5 million)

14. SP Josh Beckett ($10 million)
15. SP Daisuke Matsuzaka ($8 million)
16. SP Jon Lester ($400,000)
17. SP Clay Buchholz ($300,000)

18. RP Jon Papelbon ($800,000)
19. RP Manny Delcarmen ($500,000)
20. RP Kyle Snyder ($500,000)
21. RP Hideki Okajima ($1.25 million)

Total: $138.25 million

Now obviously the Red Sox would need to trade Lugo and Crisp, sign a backup catcher, add a starting pitcher, and fill out the bench and bullpen. Could they do all of this for less than $160 million? It seems likely. A payroll of $160 million would give them another $22 million to play around with for these holes, not including whatever is saved by moving Lugo and Crisp's contracts. This would be one possible way to proceed:

1. Exercise the $4 million option on Tim Wakefield (up to $142.75 million.)
2. Re-sign Kevin Cash for $500,000 as the backup catcher (up to $143.25 million.)
3. Trade Julio Lugo ($9 million) to the Mets, who had interest in him last off-season, for the struggling Scott Schoenweiss ($3.6 million per year through 2009.) This saves about $5 million. (down to $138.65 million.)
4. Trade Coco Crisp ($5 million), Craig Hansen ($1 million) to the Braves for Rafael Soriano ($1.2 million.) This also saves about $5 million. (down to $133.85 million.)
5. Re-sign Curt Schilling to a 1 year/$13 million deal. If you can get away with 11 or 12, great.
6. Sign another Japanese relief pitcher for $1.5 million per year and hope that it works out as well as Okajima. (up to $146.85 million.)
7. Fill out the rest of the roster with rookies and old veterans earning the major league minimum: Brandon Moss as the backup 1B/fourth outfielder, Chris Carter as the fifth outfielder/pinch hitter, Breslow/Hansack/Corey in the bullpen, etc. (up to 148.5 million.)
8. Re-sign Mike Timlin for 1 year/$2.5 million. (up to $151 million.)

If the above moves are made, the 2008 Red Sox would have an AAV payroll of around $150 million, and would look as follows:

1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury ($300,000)
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia ($400,000)
3. DH David Ortiz ($12.5 million)
4. LF Manny Ramirez ($20 million)
5. SS Alex Rodriguez ($28.6 million)
6. 3B Mike Lowell ($14 million)
7. 1B Kevin Youkilis ($700,000)
8. RF J.D Drew ($14 million)
9. C Jason Varitek ($10 million)

10. C Kevin Cash ($500,000)
11. INF Alex Cora ($2 million)
12. 1B/OF Brandon Moss ($300,000)
13. 1B/OF Chris Carter ($300,000)

14. SP Josh Beckett ($10 million)
15. SP Curt Schilling ($13 million)
16. SP Daisuke Matsuzaka ($8 million)
17. SP Jon Lester ($400,000)
18. SP Clay Buchholz ($300,000)

19. RP Jon Papelbon ($800,000)
20. RP Hideki Okajima ($1.25 million)
21. RP Rafael Soriano ($1.25 million)
22. RP Manny Delcarmen ($500,000)
23. RP Mike Timlin ($2.5 million)
24. RP Scott Schoenweiss ($3.6 million)
25. RP Tim Wakefield ($4 million)