[quote name='ryanbph']Dopa, as much as I like the red sox, and I do believe they will be first or 2nd in the al east, I don't agree with your breakdows. Lowell is 50% at BEST will do better offensively then bill mueller. Besided hitting .300 or in that area every year, mueller was CLUTCH and came up with key hits almost as often as big pappi, the difference being they were singles. Gonsalez is not a huge upgrade over the career of renteria. Rent had a horrible fielding year, but he was throwing to kevin millar. If you look at rent stats, he has had some horrible fielding seasons, followed up by stellar ones. Gonzalez, I hope to god doesn't make the roster, and that they go with the rookie dustin pedrioa. Loretta is great if you are considering him replacing bellhorn, but if you consider him replacing graffinino, i think it was a mistake. We still have graffinio, and in order to get loretta, we had to trade the catcher the wakefield pitched to. Wakefield didn't win 1 game without mirabelli last season. Mirabelli missed at least a month with an injury. I don't think that loretta will be as much of an upgrade over the loss of wakefields trusted catcher. Graffinio was solid in the field and hit .316, played a lot last year compared to his usual back up role, and fit in/played well in boston.[/QUOTE]
Lowell will have a big bounce back year, 25 HR, 90+ RBI and plays gold glove defense. I loved Mueller but the fact remains he had too little power for a 3B. I agree Gonzalez is a downgrade at SS but his defense is definitely superior and makes up somewhat his offensive shortcomings and he has enough power to be dangerous at the bottom of the order. I think you have to agree that Graffinino overachieved considerably and at best he is a solid utility infielder so I think it's fine for him to return to that role. Losing Mirabelli hurts... a little but I'm sure Varitek can adjust to catch Wakefield (or they can groom another backup catcher to play that role).