At the beginning of last season the Red Sox felt their starting rotation was, if not the strength of the team, than a strength. Many, maybe like myself, felt the team had one of the better starting staffs in baseball. But the way the season played out for the rotation was much less than that. Two Tommy John surgeries for John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and a serious back injury* to Clay Buchholz turned a strength into a profound and ultimately fatal weakness.

* It's like a sad version of The 12 Days of Christmas: "And a seer-y-u-us baaack in-jur-ee!"

The Red Sox cycled through ten different starting pitchers last season, and of the five replacements none was able to contribute more than mediocrity. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Ideally the minor league system should have guys ready to step in and contribute at the big league level when injuries happen. In fact, there was one guy who was supposed to step into the rotation and provide good innings. Felix Doubront was that guy, only it didn't work out that way.

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This off-season, MLB and the MLBPA drafted and ratified a brand new collective bargaining agreement. The new CBA has various ramifications for the game, but one of the most significant changes had to do with how the June amateur entry draft was conducted.

A "draft pool" was created, and its purpose is to create a soft cap for spending on picks from the first 10 rounds of the draft. The more picks a team has -- and the earlier those picks come -- the more money in their draft pool. This all comes up now, as Baseball America has released the draft pools for all 30 teams. The Red Sox have the tenth-most to spend at $6,884,000, as they didn't sacrifice any draft picks this winter, and acquired a first-rounder from the Phillies after losing Jonathan Papelbon to free agency.

This figure is more than a recommendation, even if the soft cap allows teams to outspend their pool: there are penalties in place for spending more than allotted.

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Sometimes you buy something and it's exactly what you thought you were getting. Like, for example, this charming Red Sox garden gnome, supposing of course that you bought it. If you did, it would sit majestically outside in your front garden-type area until it was inevitably stolen and violated by drunken teenagers. So things can turn out well, but, other times, you buy something and it turns out completely differently than you thought it would. Take these two passenger seats from an MTA bus. Well, don't take them, because doing so would cost you $500, but as an example take them. So, now you bought your great new-to-you bus seats and upon arrival one sniff reminds you that you've just dropped five big ones on two giant fart sponges. Buyer beware indeed.

Another example of the second scenario which you'll be thankful to hear has nothing to do with farts, is Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez had an odd first year in Boston. He was very productive and it's difficult to quarrel with his output, but the way in which he was productive wasn't particularly sustainable, a point which makes one wonder about the future of the Red Sox first baseman.

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The 2012 Boston Red Sox will feature three of the top five hitters in the American League last season by wRC+. They have two more hitters in the top 20. As Marc has pointed out on more than one occasion, the 2011 team raked at nearly historic levels. The player who ranks as Boston’s best overall hitter has a good case for best hitter in all of baseball.

Thanks to the advancements begun by Bill James and Pete Palmer and carried on by the fine people at Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus and The Book Blog, we are better at measuring offensive ability now than ever before. Metrics like wRC+, wOBA and True Average have joined the more traditional numbers like batting average, OBP and Slugging and in many respects they have replaced them. Even with these statistics, which weigh the value of each batting event with great accuracy, one number doesn’t tell us everything we need to know. There is still a mix of luck and skill at play. The results need to be weighted equally with the process to determine the best hitter.

Lucky for us, we can take a good look at both results and processes-

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The Red Sox have created a website devoted to selecting the greatest Red Sox team of the Fenway era, a time period that is basically a Best of the Boston Red Sox over the last 100 years. The plan is to create a lineup (as well as top lefty and righty starter) from the rich history of the Red Sox as part of the 100-year anniversary of Fenway Park's opening.

This, of course, gives us an opportunity to discuss and debate the merits of those nominated for each position. As of February 23, voting opened for the first positions -- lefty and righty starting pitchers -- and will continue through February 26, so that's where we'll start. It's not clear if they are selecting a full rotation (although it doesn't seem like they are), but feel free to consider it that way at least in our comment section.

Now, my first inclination is to just pick whoever the Very Best player was at each position, but we've all got our own personal reasons for loving specific players from the Red Sox. Emotional ties are not inadmissible here: let's hear why you love any of these guys, whether it's because they are an all-time great or just a reason you loved baseball.

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It's February 15, the day after Valentine's Day, and Roy Oswalt is feeling the pains of unrequited love. Solace won't come in the form of discounted candy this year, as he's set and specific in what he's looking for in a partner; without that perfect match, what's the point in pitching?

It's not that Oswalt has limited himself to just the one option, as he would gladly pair up with either the Rangers or the Cardinals, or maybe even the Reds if they would just give him the time of day. It's just that he's spent the winter looking to get with those who already have found the pieces that fit them, and he's hoping, by waiting his options out, they'll realize that Oswalt is just a better match for them. The phone didn't ring once yesterday, though, making yesterday another day just like today, and tomorrow looks to be no different.

With all of his co-workers excitedly packing up to head off and be with their own teams, one starts to wonder if Oswalt is just going to have to settle for the first that comes courting. Maybe this isn't where Oswalt envisioned himself, but when spring rolls around, does he want to be alone, or does he want to share in the beauty of that time of year with someone else who does appreciate him?

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We tend to think in terms of finished products when looking back at past Red Sox teams, but each February that year's team is not yet the narrative we've collectively constructed over a full season. It is, instead, a veritable bounty of questions. In this crazy world with the instant nature of the internet, journalists and analysts from all the corners of the globe can list questions they think the team will have to answer to have success during the upcoming season. And this season being no different, lo and behold, they have done so.

To wit (and a hat tip to Joy of Sox for the links):

• Michael Silverman of the Herald has nine questions which means it would have been shorter to just list the things Mr. Silverman believes don't require explanation (presumably third base coach, back up catcher, and hot dog vending aren't areas of concern).
  
• The Providence Journal's Tim Britton has a more reasonable three questions which concern right field, the back of the rotation, and shortstop.
  
• Gordon Edes has ten questions but, wary of overload, he's only asking one a day. Like Mr. Silverman everything is a question but unlike Mr. Silverman, he's just more subtle about it.
  
• Finally, Ian Browne at MLB.com has three questions that need answering: starting pitching, shortstop, and Carl Crawford.

The truly strange thing to me is that I have yet to see anyone here at OTM weigh in on any of these topics. Not once. Ever. Totally. For serious*. So, what's say we grab a few off the top and dive right in, eh?

* OK, fine. No. Not for serious.

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The Boston Red Sox favor a certain type of pitcher. Whether they are drafting, signing free agents or exploring the trade market, they consistently hone in on power pitchers. The team has one of the hardest throwers in the game in Daniel Bard, one of the hardest throwing starters in Josh Beckett and one of the hardest throwing lefties in Jon Lester. These guys throw hard and rack up the strikeouts, but they are not among the great control pitchers in the game. Only one Red Sox pitcher was among the top 10 in BB% last season and sadly, Jonathan Papelbon will not be back in 2012.

Looking at the 2011 team by the ratio of strikes to balls, it is not surprising that Papelbon holds a commanding lead over all other Sox pitchers. In fact, only Papelbon and Dan Wheeler had a ratio of strikes to balls over two (though ironically, Tim Wakefield came very close).

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