The Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox are reigning World Series Champions, but I'm not very sure if they'll be able to uphold that title in 2014. Many important pieces of their 2013 success have departed and the team did not replace these figures.

The lineup for the Red Sox took a significant decline upon the departure of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and most likely Stephan Drew. They did replace Salty with AJ Pierzynski, but Ellsbury is being replaced with Jackie Bradly Jr, and Drew by Xander Bogaerts. They still have a very powerful lineup and here is how it may look in 2014.

1. S. Shane Victorino       RF 119 OPS+
2. R. Dustin Pedroia        2B 116 OPS+
3. L. David Ortiz            DH 160 OPS+
4. R. Mike Napoli           1B 129 OPS+
5. L. AJ Pierzynski            C 94 OPS+
6. R. Johnny Gomes        LF 111 OPS+
7. R. Will Middlebrooks   3B 88 OPS+
8. L. Jackie Bradly Jr.     CF 69 OPS+
9. R. Xander Bogaerts     SS 88 OPS+

Ortiz after the Boston Bombing "This is our
F****** city"

The pitching rotation for the Red Sox may be up in the air for the 2014 season with Ryan Dempster announcing that he is going to sit out the season. Also Jon Lester is in a walk year and the other members of the rotation may just be flat out inconsistent. Anyway this is how the rotation may stack up.

1. L. Jon Lester       109 ERA+
2. R. Clay Buchholz 234 ERA+ in 14 starts
3. R. Jake Peavy      101 ERA+
4. R. John Lackey    116 ERA+
5. L. Felix Doubront  94 ERA+

The bullpen is why the Red Sox won in the playoffs this past season. They lost several pieces throughout the season to injury. Koji Uehara ended up being the closer and he was phenomenal. Other notable parts of the bullpen for the Red Sox are Junichi Tazawa, Craig Breslow, and off season acquisition Edward Mujica.