Red Sox Offseason BluePrint v.3 : Gonzalez, Holliday, Harden, Sheets

With respect to both Evan and Mike’s blueprints and analysis preceding me, I chose to take a slightly different direction with the 2010 Red Sox.

I think Theo Epstein and company will be aggressive this off season. No matter what you heard at the end of the season in the “season wrap” press conference from Epstein, I think he’s learned from his mistake last hot stove in letting Mark Teixeira slip through their fingertips.

While I believe that Theo would rather spend his chips and time trying to pry a young, talented and under team control starter to slot in at the top of the rotation with Lester and Beckett (i.e. Felix Hernandez), I don’t believe that will be the route that the Red Sox take given the prohibitive ask that it would take to swing that deal.

Trade Clay Buchholz, Lars Anderson, Manny Delcarmen, and Michael Bowden to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez

Instead, despite reports that the San Diego Padres aren’t looking to shop their star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez this off season, I think that is exactly where Theo and team will level their gaze, rebuilding their team around a player with nearly all the strengths that they missed out on with Mark Teixeira at a fraction the cost.