The 2011 Boston Red Sox are begging for us to examine who will be the better offseason addition—Carl Crawford or Adrian Gonzalez? Which player will have a bigger impact in the Fens?
With the acquisitions of Gonzalez and Crawford the Boston Red Sox added quite a bit of talent to their starting squad.
Adrian Beltre and Mike Cameron will no longer be starting and instead are replaced by Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury. Oddly enough both Youk and Ells will be moving back to the positions where they originally started, third base and center field respectively.
Youkilis and Ellsbury are an upgrade over Beltre and Cameron, two guys who were brought in as short-term fillers and while Cameron is no longer starting it is good to have him as added depth in an outfield that is certainly not immune to injury.
The shift in positions leaves first base and left field to be patrolled by Gonzalez and Crawford.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the Red Sox are now fielding the starters that were meant to be starting. One exception to this statement would be Marco Scutaro, however Jed Lowrie might very well take over starting duties at shortstop and if so the Fenway faithful will field nine with no temporary replacement plug-ins.
While both acquisitions are huge for Boston, Adrian Gonzalez was the bigger move and here are a few reasons why.