The 2007 Boston Red Sox: A World Series Waiting to Happen?

The price of a World Series victory may end up being the exact same figure as the Boston Red Sox payroll for the 2007 season. As far as off-seasons go, Red Sox Nation has seen one of the most exciting and costly winters in Red Sox history. A majority of the spending was on two contracts in particular. Those of Japanese pitching magician Daisuke Matsuzaka and veteran outfielder J.D. Drew. There are many requirements to be met by any World Series contender and on paper the 2007 Boston Red Sox appear to have every single one.

Pitching, pitching, pitching. Baseball analysts will tell you, winning teams have ample quality pitching. There will be no shortage of that in Boston this year. GM Theo Epstein spared no expense in bolstering a once rag tag bullpen and adding a dominant starter who has already reached super star status in his home country of Japan.

Red Sox fans can expect to see "old" favorites Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez back in the pen, as well as young guns Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen. The new faces to look forward to seeing in Beantown include ex-Anaheim Angel set up man Brendan Donnelly, Japanese lefty Hideki Okajima, lefty J.C. Romero and one time Seattle Mariners starter Joel Pineiro. There are some familiar faces that will be seen competing for a bullpen job this spring too. Expect left-handers Craig Breslow, Kason Gabbard and Javier Lopez along with righties David Pauley, Kyle Snyder and Devern Hansack to be in a mix of pitchers that is sure to make this a competitive spring training for the Red Sox.