The 133rd season of Major League Baseball is upon us. Over the next month and half, we will be taking a look at each ball club, leading up to the Expert Predictions of the esteemed staff at Sparty & Friends. We will be previewing each team, from worst to first.  We head to Beantown to deal with the team that has the most hated fan base in all of sports.

I hate them. I really hate them. I really really hate them. It isn’t that I don’t like them, I just really really really hate them. You don’t understand the joy I took out of them losing to the the Rays last year in the playoffs. I like enjoyed it.   Soooo much. I really really really really hate the Red Sox…

But I really respect Theo Epstein. Look, the Red Sox do spend a lot of money on their team, but nearly as much as the Yankees. They probably spend100 million dollars more wisely than anyone else.  But I friggin hate them.

Projected lineup
1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury.
2. 2B Dustin Pedroia.
3. DH David Ortiz.
4. 1B Kevin Youkilis.
5. LF Jason Bay.
6. RF J.D. Drew.
7. 3B Mike Lowell.
8. C Jason Varitek.
9. SS Jed Lowrie

Projected rotation
1. RHP Josh Beckett.
2. LHP Jon Lester.
3. RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka.
4. RHP Tim Wakefield.
5. RHP Brad Penny.

CL Jonathan Papelbon, RHP

Manager: Terry Francona

Lineup outlook: Blah blah blah…high OBP, they score runs, David Ortiz isn’t as good without Manny, but he is still one of the more feared hitters in the American League. The Red Sox lineup does have the defending AL MVP in Dustin Pedroia, even if he does have one of the uglier swings in all of baseball. Kevin Youkilis is the kinda hitter that I love. He has a high OBP, good batting avg, decent power, doesn’t strike out much, but he plays for th Red Sox, so he sucks. Don’t expect nearly the same success out of Jason Bay as you received after the trade deadline. American League pitchers will figure out how to pitch to him by mid-may and he should just be a marginal success. JD will be DL. Lowell should be completely healthy by opening day, which means he should be tattooing the Green Monster in no time. Jason Varitek is done. Jed Lowrie will be holding down SS now that Julio Lugo is out with an injury. I think that bodes well, as I think he will be a very good player.

Pitching outlook: The Yankees have the most talented staff entering the 2009 season, but the Red Sox are the best staff entering 2009. We don’t even have John Smoltz listed as a starter, as he very well could take over for Wakefield or Penny at any point this year. Terry Francona doesn’t need to worry about over taxing his bullpen or his closer with these guys on the mound. Granted, there are always injury risks, especially when talking about pitchers that came out of the Marlins system (Beckett and Penny), but these guys have performed on the field and have won World Series rings already.

Bullpen: Jonathona Papelbon is a douche.

Prediction: A teacher asks her students if they’re Red Sox fans. All of the hands go up except for one student. “Okay, Bobby. What team are you a fan of?”

“The Yankees.”

“Why’s that?” “Well, my parents are both Yankee fans, so I’m a Yankee fan too.”

“That’s not a good answer, Bobby. If your parents were both morons, would you be a moron too?”

“No, that would make me a Red Sox fan!”

Seriously, I really hate these guys.  Realistically they will have 95-100 wins.  But I hate them, so 80-85 wins.

Welcome to the Bronx:

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