We all know Crawford was bad offensively last year, even the pessimists such as myself expected more than the 83 wRC+ he posted last year. I am going to very briefly try to explain why he was so bad last year, and a rather vague expectation for the future.

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I'll start up a Pedroia vs Cano debate and try to say something about some of the arguments usually made.

1. Cano has better offense

Simply not true. In his career, Pedroia has a 124 wRC+, Cano has 119. wRC+ should favor Cano more than most stats because a single is better than a walk in it, yet Cano still does worse. Using the way I use to figure out true talent, Pedroia's true talent wRC+ is 125, Cano's is 122.

2. Defensive stats rate Cano's range as not good, but he makes amazing plays

Fans can be decieved by amazing plays example: Derek Jeter, because a bette fielder would've gotten to the ball without having to make amazing plays. But the argument that Cano does make great plays does have some merit, as we can see He has .272 Out of zone plays per 9 innings for his career, Pedroia has made .252, but Cano just dosen't make the easy plays, he only makes 81% of the plays where the ball is in his zone, Pedroia makes 83.7%. That's a huge difference and as a result Pedroia is better at UZR, DRS, and TZL

3. Cano won a gold glove, below average fielders don't win gold gloves

Well Derek Jeter won 5 gold gloves and he was one of the worst shortstops of the generation, a little better than Yuni Betancourt. Matt Kemp won one last year.

4. Pedroia doesn't have even splits

you can't throw away half the equation, and park factors are much better than splits, wRC+ is park adjusted and Pedroia comes out on top.

5. Cano has had better seasons than Pedroia

Pedroia's best seasons have 8 WAR and 6.8 WAR, Cano's have had 6.5 WAR and 5.6 WAR.

6. Cano has more RBIs than Pedroia

I could go on and on and on about how stupid RBIs are, but according to baseball reference's baserunners scored%, Cano scores 16% of the runners on base, Pedroia scores 15%. Pedroia has a 106 wRC+ with men in scoring position and a 115 wRC+ with men on base. Cano has a 92 wRC+ with men in scoring position and a 101 wRC+ with men on base.

So that's about it, I would vote for Pedroia because his career WAR/650 PAs is 5.21, and Cano's is 3.6.

If you come with an argument for Cano, don't use any of the above arguments, if you think there's something wrong with one of the above arguments, post your criticism and why Cano is better, but don't use the same one most people use that I showed was wrong.

I'm going to repost this on pinstripe alley to see a different response.

I've said it before, and it seems Bill James agrees.

He wrote this article yesterday for Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7555836/an-open-letter-mlb-hall-fame-dwight-evans-rightful-place-cooperstown

Anyone who hasn't yet, read it, please do.

James loses focus every now and then, and ends up defending almost everyone he discusses, but he does a good statistical analysis of Evans' career.

I have always believed Evans deserves the Hall nod, and it's exceptionally insulting he isn't yet in now that Jim Rice is. This may be a can of worms for Red Sox fans, but in my opinion Evans was worth more over his career to the Sox than Rice.

Dwight Evans is one of the most underrated players in the modern era of baseball, and more than that he is a Hall of Fame-caliber player.

I recently posted a fanpost looking over the 2009-2010 offseason, in that post the Red Sox ignored John Lackey in favor of Matt Holliday and Max Scherzer. I will continue by posting a retroactive 2010-2011 offseason.

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everyone is saying they'll go over, but I don't get it. The luxury tax is 178 million, Cots has the Sox at 152 million. They have 26 million left. For Ortiz's arbitration the Sox went with 12 million and Ortiz went with 16 million. The Sox are probably going to win that. That will put them at 164 million, still enough for a pitcher. My guess is that they are waiting until the Ortiz arbitration is finalized so they know they won't go over the cap and will still get Oswalt. I think this is why the Sox have waited to get a pitcher. They have a 6 million dollar offer to Oswalt right now, but I think they'll increase it to 10 million and get him after the Ortiz arbitration.

Nice to see the Sox avoided arbitration according to Yahoo sports:

Alfredo Aceves and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a $1.2 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration.

The agreement was $75,000 below the midpoint between the $1.6 million he had asked for in arbitration last month and the $950,000 he had been offered. Aceves can earn a maximum of $100,000 in performance bonuses: $25,000 each for five, 10, 15 and 25 starts, or $25,000 each for 55, 60, 65 and 70 relief appearances.

A 30-year-old right-hander, Aceves was 10-2 with a 2.61 ERA and two saves in 51 relief appearances and four starts last season,,when he made $750,000.

The agreement was announced Sunday.

Designated hitter David Ortiz is Boston’s last remaining player in arbitration.

The following comes from an article I wrote for SB Nation Tampa Bay:

A lot of writers have talked this to death, but the decision on the Theo Epstein compensation should come soon, and it could have implications for the Tampa Bay Rays - not only because the Red Sox are in the same division, but this compensation could involve a former Rays pitcher.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is now in charge, and my impression is that he wants to make this compensation a 'penalty' more than a 'trade' for the Cubs. Everywhere I read, is see quoted that the Cubs promised "significant compensation" for Theo, but the man involved seems to think otherwise.

Back when it all first happened, Theo had this to say about the situation:

"If you wanted to look at precedent, you'd say, 'Well, whether I'm worth nothing, or something,' -- you would probably get some opinions on that if you ask your callers -- the bottom line is when executives change teams there is no compensation. There have been a handful of instances where there is compensation, and that compensation has been pretty reasonable. If you look when Andy MacPhail, who had won two World Series, left on a lateral move from Minnesota to Chicago back in '94, his compensation was like the 30th ranked prospect in the Cubs system and a little bit of cash."

The problem with Theo's analogy is that MacPhail (which is a perfect name for a Cubs executive) went from GM of the Twins to President of the Cubs after winning two World Series with his old team. Theo has also gone from GM to President after two World Series, so the move appears to be the same on paper. If you believe Epstein and MacPhail are equals. But how much is the mind of Theo Epstein worth?

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Having faced their most disappointing season since 2006 by being bounced by the Angels in the first round of the 2009 playoffs, the Red Sox faced a few issues as they got ready for their next season. The broken corpse of Mike Lowell would need to be replaced at the hot corner, the pitching void left by Curt Schilling would need to be filled by somebody more talented than the combination of John Smoltz and Brad Penny, and a replacement for free agent left fielder Jason Bay would need to be found.

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The Red Sox still desperately need a 4th starter. Roy Oswalt has no interest in coming to Boston, Edwin Jackson is looking for more money than Boston wants to pay, and will probably go somewhere that will inflate his stats so he can sign a big contract next year. Kenny Williams is Kenny Williams, so who knows what he's asking for Gavin Floyd.

Enter San Diego Padres pitcher Dustin Moseley. Moseley posted a 95 ERA- in his first full year as a starter, his 3.99 FIP and 4.22 xFIP look good in his first year as a full-time starter, and, importantly, he posted a 49% GB rate, which means he isn't totally a product of Petco Park. Moseley went down for the year after dislocating his shoulder during a game batting for the Padres (another resounding argument for the DH), and without Gavin Floyd's track record he should come fairly cheaply. He also will make just over 2 million dollars on the year, which is important for the suddenly frugal Sox FO.

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Here's a list of what's left out there. I didn't include any relief pitchers that could be turned into starters, but there don't seem to be any worth mentioning anyhow. If any of these guys have already signed, my apologies. But this list certainly makes signing Edwin Jackson or trading for Gavin Floyd seem much more important now.

Javier Vazquez - Pitched 32 games with the team formerly known as Florida last year. Finished 13-11 with a 3.69 ERA. Played for the Yankees the year before, posted a 5.32 ERA. He's turning 36 in July. I'd keep going, but i'm sure you guys moved on after the words Javier Vazquez appeared.

Rich Harden - Hasn't had an ERA under 5 since 2009. Great strikeout numbers, 51 away from 1,000 career. Over a 2:1 k:bb ratio. Turned 30 in November. Pitched 15 games last year, 20 the year before. Can't prove he can pitch against the big boys. Probably the most pros out of any free agent remaining, but a long list of cons as well.

Ben Sheets - No one knows what to make of this guy. Nasty stuff when he's healthy. Pretty sure he came out of the womb injured though. 2010 only season he pitched in since 2008. Finished 4-9 with a 4.53 ERA and 2:1 K:BB ratio. Sure he might be worth a minor league contract, but I have no idea where this guy stands health-wise.

Chris Young - Read above. 6 games pitched in last 2 seasons.

Jon Garland - Pitched decently while healthy for the Dodgers last year, including a dominating complete game effort. However again, health is the main issue here. Good be the best option out of the "if he stays healthy" category though.

Brad Penny - We've already seen him once. Felt like 12 years ago. He actually finished an entire season last year with Detroit, posting an impressive...5.30 ERA. The 2007 16-4, 3.03 ERA Penny is long gone, and he's looking like he has not very much left to offer. Especially in the AL East.