Red Sox Spring Training Preview - 5 Burning Questions

February 18^th is an important day on the calendar for New England residents. Perhaps even more foretelling of the end of winter than Groundhog Day, this is the day the Northeast officially starts to see the thaw begin.

February 18^th is the day pitchers and catchers start to report to Spring Training. February 18^th marks the return of the Boston Red Sox.

The 2009 season ended in a bitter disappointment after a three game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was capped of with a blown save in game three of the American League Divisional Series. Coupled with having to watch the bitter rival New York Yankees capture their 27^th World Series Championship, Red Sox fans are eager to put 2009 behind them and move forward into 2010.

But what does 2010 hold in store for the Boston Red Sox? The 2009 season showed that the most recent incarnation of the team was in need of a make-over, but was it something that could be addressed in the offseason or would this take multiple years to get them back on top? The Red Sox front office, most notably General Manager Theo Epstein, have been extremely candid about 2010 being a "bridge season" between the past and the future of the organization, with many of the team's top prospects looking to start hitting Fenway in 2011. As always though, there have been mixed signals from the team as to how well they'll compete in 2010 and what steps they'll take this season to pursue a championship.

With that in mind, there are perhaps five burning questions revolving around this team heading into Spring Training. Let's take a look.

1.) What is to become of Mike Lowell?

The Red Sox attempted to trade Lowell to the Texas Rangers for catching prospect Max Ramirez in the offseason, but the trade was sunk when it was revealed that Lowell would need wrist surgery to repair an injury suffered at the end of 2009. Regardless of the trade being called off, Boston still signed Adrian Beltre to replace Lowell at third base, leaving the elder statesman without a position heading into the season.

For all intensive purposes, Lowell was still moderately productive in 2009 despite the injuries and a cut in playing time after the acquisition of Victor Martinez. Still, that production level fell below most standard for corner infielders, and the injuries over the past few seasons have taken a toll on his range in the field. That said, Lowell still could find a home as a designated hitter or platoon at first base with an American League team. Teams, including a possible revisit with the Rangers, will watch Lowell's spring performance to see how successful the surgery was before determining whether to target him or not. It appears he's much more likely to be traded at that stage though, as he's an awful expensive bench piece, even for the Red Sox.

2.) Who's in and who's out of the starting rotation?

Boston made a big play over the winter when they acquired John Lackey via free agency. Lackey figures to slot in as the number three starter for the Red Sox behind Josh Becket and Jon Lester, but would likely be a number one or number two on most other teams.

With that in mind, that leaves three arms in Clay Bucholtz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield vying for the last two slots in the rotation. Given his performance down the stretch and his future in the starting rotation, Bucholtz would seem to be an automatic selection for one of the slots, leaving Wakefield and Matsuzaka competing for the final slot. Matsuzaka would seemingly be the favorite, but given his conditioning issues last season and his subsequent ineffectiveness, the Red Sox don't have the faith in him to just hand him the spot. Then again, Wakefield got off to a great start before a back injury stole his second half from him. Being that Wakefield will turn 44 midway through the season, and his history of back troubles, it's hard to see him starting 20-30 times in the season, but he's also 11 wins shy of 200 for his career and the Sox may give him the opportunity to get them.

In all likelihood, Boston will give Matsuzaka, the expensive Japanese import, the fifth sport in the rotation and slot Wakefield in as a long reliever. With Matsuzaka's propensity toward high pitch counts, Wakefield could see a lot of action every fifth day anyway and could pick up a lot of scrap wins.

3.) Will this team hit enough to compete with the Yankees?

For years, the Red Sox have been built around their offense. In 2010, the front office is touting a team that is built around pitching and defense. After the loss of Jason Bay to free agency and the front office's decision not to chase Matt Holliday's bat, the fans are wondering if this team will make up improve on last year's offensive woes or in the very least replace the loss of Bay.

The additions of Beltre and Mike Cameron will help replace Bay's bat, especially if Beltre is healthy and performs as expected with the move from Safeco to Fenway. Coupled with a full season of Victor Martinez as the starting catcher and the Red Sox offense should at the very least approximate last year's squad. The only hindrance to that would be the possibility that the new additions don't get on base as often as Bay did. Bay had a .384 on-base percentage in 2009, whereas Beltre (.325) and Cameron (.340) have career averages 40 points below that clip and both have a propensity to the strikeout. It'll be interesting to see if the Red Sox hitting approach changes that.

4.) What will we see from David Ortiz?

2009 was a tough year for David Ortiz, and subsequently the Red Sox. Ortiz struggled mightily during the first half of the season, and then was implicated in July as testing positive for steroids in the anonymous 2003 tests conducted by Major League Baseball. If there is anyone in the Red Sox clubhouse that wants to put last season behind him, David Ortiz is that guy.

With that said, obviously the offense still hinges on Ortiz getting out of the gate strong, especially without Bay to pick up the early season slack like he did a year ago. The good news is that while Ortiz hit only .222 with 12 home runs and 47 RBI in the first half, he showed signs of turning it around in the second half by hitting .258 with 17 home runs and 52 RBI in 12 fewer games. Granted, those numbers still aren't staggering, and he was still plagued by prolonged slumps, but he did a better job of staying on top of pitches and cutting down on his strikeouts.

Now, Ortiz will be 34 at the start of the season, so he's not completely beyond his prime and his contract will expire at the end of 2010, so he has a lot to play for. After two consecutive seasons of decline though, the Red Sox would be happy to get his second half repeated for both halves of 2010. Anything less than that may mean the end of the David Ortiz era in Boston.

5.) Will Jason Varitek adapt to being the back-up catcher?

Jason Varitek has been the starting catcher for the Red Sox for 11 of his 13 years with the team. His rapport with the pitching staff is universally known as being one of the best in the game and was so prized by Boston and its fans that they rewarded him the captaincy.

However, it hasn't been a secret that Jason Varitek has been declining for the past several years. By turning 38 just after Opening Day, it is also unlikely that he will recapture his bat speed or throwing arm, both of which have suffered the most over the past couple of seasons. The acquisition of Victor Martinez at the trading deadline in 2009 closed the book on Varitek's starting job in Boston and will likely make 2010 his last season with the team.

That all said, Varitek will likely still get at least two starts a week behind the plate in order to keep Martinez fresh, allowing him to shift to first base of DH to keep his bat in the line-up. One of those starts will likely be while catching Josh Beckett, who has voiced a preference of throwing to Varitek. Given his struggles with catching Tim Wakefield, and Martinez showing some ability to do so, Varitek will likely not catch on those days. Varitek has said all the right things about stepping back, but it remains to be seen how well he truly takes to the role.

Sources:

Tim Wakefield Statistics, Baseball-Reference.com

Jason Bay Statistics, Baseball-Reference.com

Adrian Beltre Statistics, Baseball-Reference.com

Mike Cameron Statistics, Baseball-Reference.com

Ortiz and Ramirez Said To Be On '03 Doping List, NYTimes.com

David Ortiz Stats, Baseball-Reference.com