The Sox 2009 season was not anything to write home about, but oddly enough now that the season is over and we are looking towards 2010, there is very little that needs to change.  This article is coming out of my idea to put up a different potition each day and talk about who the Sox have and who, if anyone is needed, we could get to replace that player.  But as I looked position by position, I quickly realized, almost nothing needs a major upgrade.

Let's break it down.  Starting with the infield.  Beckham is going to stay at third permanently (per Bruce Levine), Alexei should stay at short, Getz/Nix/Lillibridge at 2nd and Konerko at first.  The biggest weak spot here is 2nd base, but with 3 young 2nd basemen in the system and getting their time in the bigs last year, it's tough to say we need a replacement there.  Sure names like Akinori Iwamura, Orlando Hudson, Mark DeRosa seem like they would be upgrades, but really they aren't.  We need to find our guy for the future, and I think Getz,Lilli, or Nixare much more likely that person instead of Mr. Outside Hire.  3rd base can't be touched.  SS can't be touched (that one could be debated, but I am fully behind Alexei still).  And 1st we could use a younger guy to take the pressure of Konerko, but it's still to early to just let Paulie move on.

On to the outfield.  Quentin in left, Rios/Podsednik in center, Dye/Podsednik in right.  All signs point to Dye moving on and I'm not really secure with Podsednik out there every day.  If it has to be Pods though, I think we can be alright.  Might need to switch Scott and Carlos, but that's not a hige deal.  The reason for not making a big change in the outfield is because there really isn't a great option, at least for the money.  Sure Holliday, Bay, Guerrero, and Manny are free agents this year.  I'd take any of those 4 to stick in right or left in a heart beat, but the price just doesn't work for the Sox.  The most likely guy would be Mike Cameron, but again his price is going to be higher than it should be becase there are a few big market teams (Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels) in the market for an outfielder.  So, Quentin, Rios, Podsednik, I think I can live with that.

Now the starting rotation.  Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, ?.  4 out of 5 ain't bad in October for a team who just fell well short of the postseason.  Sure the rotation wasn't great last year, but that was without Peavy for 95% of the year, and Danks and Floyd are still young and improving.  Hudson, Torres, Garcia all have shots at that last spot, and looking at the free agents, there's really nothing out there that you have to have.  There are a lot of guys who could be steals and could fit in the 5th spot nicely, but don't count on a move from Kenny.

As far as the bullpen goes, it's the same as every team every year.  We could use improvement.  But so could everyone else.  So basically all we can do is sit back and hope that Kenny picks the right one.  He'll probably go and get one or two guys, but nothing drastic.  But are you honestly looking forward to the signing of an R.A. Dickey, or Joe Beimel.  Nah, me neither, but there's no doubt those guys could help.  So really, the bullpen can be fixed, but it's not totally broken.

So then what, bench? the draft? developing AAA?  Who knows.  All I know is this is not going to be a terribly interesting offseason for the Sox.  But on the bright side, we really don't need too much.  Can we just fast forward to April already?

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