Holy Cow! Are the Red Sox Stacked or What?

Like the Pharaoh of Egypt, the Red Sox and Theo Epstein just keep accumulating treasures from abroad. Never has a post season seen a team collect a gallery of stars like this off season for the Red Sox. They are like kids in a candy store, but they keep coming up with sweetness in everything they do.

First they re-signed David Ortiz, then they got Adrian Gonzalez, a coup in itself since they didn't lose any of their brightest prospects or current players. Then they signed Carl Crawford, the second biggest prize on the free agent market. Then they signed Bobby Jenks and now it's Dan Wheeler. Their team is like a suitcase you have to sit on to get closed.

The bullpen is stacked with Papelbon, Bard, Wheeler and Jenks. Wow. Their rotation has two Cy Young candidates in Buchholz and Lester plus plus Beckett and Lackey. The line up does not let up until you get to the catcher. It's amazing. The Phillies are getting a lot of love for their rotation, but the Red Sox are more talented all over the field and in the bullpen.

All the Red Sox have lost is Mike Lowell (he was done anyway), Victor Martinez (a catching liability) and Bill Hall. No real ouchies there. Whatever was lost in those three in WAR was tripled and quadrupled in the players they picked up.  ***Update*** Forgot about Beltre. He was a loss, but his season was an outlier.

Of course the danger for the Red Sox is that they have built up this enormous expectation in the Red Sox Nation and if they still fail to dent the playoffs, it will be considered a colossal disappointment. They haven't won a single game yet in 2011, but they are sure sitting pretty in the season to come. Anyone that doesn't regard them as the clear cut favorite to represent the AL in the World Series, hasn't been paying attention.

What the Red Sox have done is amazing. They are as scary good as any team they have ever fielded including the 2004 and 2007 teams.