http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/10/30/bp.aleast/index.html Boston Red Sox 2007 Record: 96-66, 1st in AL East, World Series Champion 2007 Attendance: 3.0 million, 4th in American League 2007 Payroll: $143 million, 2nd in baseball Key Free Agents(2007) 3B-R Mike Lowell SP-R Curt Schilling RP-R Eric Gagne RP-R Mike Timlin SP-R Matt Clement 1B-L Eric Hinske C-R Doug Mirabelli SP-R Tim Wakefield (club option) SP-R Julian Tavarez (club option) ________________________ Key Free Agents(2008) C-B Jason Varitek RP-R Brendan Donnelly INF-L Alex Cora LF Manny Ramirez (club option) RP-L Hideki Okajima (club option) _________________________ Key Long-Term Commitments RF-L J.D. Drew, $14m/year through 2011 DH David Ortiz, $12.5m/year through 2010, plus 2011 club option SP-R Josh Beckett, $10m/year through 2009, plus 2010 club option SS-R Julio Lugo, $9m/year through 2010, plus 2011 vesting option SP-R Daisuke Matsuzaka, $8.8m/year through 2011 CF-B Coco Crisp, $5.25 m/year through 2009, plus 2010 club option Key Ready-Now Youngsters CF-L Jacoby Ellsbury SP-R Clay Buchholz SP-L Jon Lester OF-L Brandon Moss SS-B Jed Lowrie SP-R Justin Masterson SP-R Michael Bowden RP-R Craig Hansen Needs: 1. 3B, if Lowell departs; 2. Perhaps SP, if Schilling departs. ______________________ What They Should Do: Weak Sell. The Red Sox can give away talent and still have the best 2008 club in baseball, perhaps along with the Indians. I would certainly re-up Wakefield, whose option is cheap, and make reasonable effort to re-sign both Schilling and Lowell. But there are reasonable contingency plans if they're asking for too much money. If Schilling departs, you could still have a very capable rotation of Beckett/Matzusaka/Buchholz/Wakefield/Lester. If Lowell leaves, you could move Kevin Youkilis to 3B, David Ortiz back to 1B, Manny Ramirez to DH, and go with an outfield of Ellsbury/Crisp/Drew. That would give up quite a bit of infield defense, but would make most of it back up in the outfield. Alternatively, if you re-sign Lowell, you can trade Crisp for a prospect, targeting a corner outfielder or a catcher. Either way, the Red Sox should be getting a little cheaper and a little younger , while at most marginally affecting the quality of the 2008 team. A more severe iteration of this plan would be to deal Julio Lugo and give Jed Lowrie the shortstop position, but the Red Sox will probably need to wait for Lugo to have a better season and regain some trade value before they can do that. What They Will Do: Hold. I'd guess that in the wake of his World Series MVP, the Red Sox will be willing to apply the precedent they established for Jason Varitek, and give Lowell one more year on his contract than they might give him otherwise. I'd also guess that if Schilling goes -- and he's more likely to leave than Lowell -- the Red Sox will target some sort of No. 4 starter in the free-agent market. Both of these are perfectly defensible decisions. Doing something drastic like going after Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, is neither particularly defensible nor particularly likely. The Red Sox do well enough on the field, at the gate, and in player development that they have little reason to overpay for someone when there are palatable alternatives, and this is the one environment where I think concerns about A-Rod's clubhouse and media distractions are tangible enough to weigh into your decision. --

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