MLB preview: Boston Red Sox

Even in a season that was terribly disappointing and ended with a historic collapse, the Red Sox won 90 games. They haven't added much, but if a few talented and highly-paid players show up, they'll contend.

2011 record: 90-72 (3rd in AL East). Projected 2012 finish: 92-70 (2nd in AL East).

Projected starters: C Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Dustin Pedroia, SS Mike Aviles, 3B Kevin Youkilis, LF Carl Crawford, CF Jacoby Ellsbury, RF Darnell McDonald, DH David Ortiz, SP Jon Lester, SP Josh Beckett, SP Clay Buchholz, SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP Daniel Bard, CL Andrew Bailey, RP Mark Melancon, RP Alfredo Aceves.

Half-full outlook: Until the calendar turned to September in 2011, you could have called the Red Sox the best team in baseball and had trouble finding anyone to argue with you. Most of the reasons they were/are so good (Gonzalez, Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Ortiz, Lester and Beckett, for starters) are still around. When you factor in the potential for a Crawford bounce-back, for Bard to be light years better than the garbage No. 5 starters the Red Sox were using at the end of last season and for Youkilis to stay healthy, they could be significantly better in spite of their yawn-inducing offseason. They're a great bet for 90-plus wins ... and pushing 100 isn't that improbable.

Half-empty outlook: Where there is reason to believe that the Crawfords of the team will progress towards the mean, there's also reason to believe that guys like Ellsbury and maybe an aging Ortiz will be significantly worse in 2012. For a team that has so much shiny position-player talent, catcher, shortstop (I still don't get the dumping of Marco Scutaro) and right field are areas where Boston could be extremely weak. And if the Bard-as-a-starter experiment fails and/or another pitcher or two gets hurt, the Red Sox could be right back in the same mess as last year with their rotation. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong and leave the Red Sox out of the playoffs again.

Halfway between the two outlook: Considering the way last season ended, I figured the Red Sox would continue their recent Yankees North ways and try to spend their way back to glory. Instead their were shockingly silent. Their one major addition (Bailey) will have trouble being any better than Jonathan Papelbon has been for Boston for years, and could be much worse. With all of that said, there is too much talent here for me to think the Red Sox won't compete. I don't think they're as good as the Yankees but think they beat out the Rays (and the Jays). Boston's playoff fate may come down to whether or not baseball adds another wild card.