Spring Training has begun for the Red Sox, and forget the Yankees and Mets for a moment, who both made outstanding off-season acquisitions. Apart from them, the Sox had one of the more productive winters in baseball. They got their leadoff hitter, they got a couple of decent starting pitchers despite the incredibly shallow pool of available hurlers, and they unloaded Crazy Carl. Other guys who whined much of the season like Lansing and Bichette are also gone, as is O’Leary, who I still liked despite my constantly slamming my face into the wall every time he’d strike out at critical times when all you ask for him to do is make contact but instead he lets perfectly good pitches whistle by and then half swings at ball two to end the inning.

But Duquette, the ultimate player’s champion, brought in guys who want to be in Boston. Johnny Damon is a great fit as an introduction to Trot, Nomar and Manny, and the offense should be pan out nicely if the Sox can get production from a streaky Brian Daubach and Shea Hillenbrand, who appears to have found himself a magical bag of patience at the plate.

One critical spot in the lineup is the number-five hitter. Right now, it appears to be Tony Clark. The switch-hitting, 6’7″ first baseman will have to produce this season, especially since he will follow Manny in the lineup. If he slumps in April and May, pitchers will look to pitch around Manny more often, which the Sox can’t afford. Clark hit .287 last year with 16 homers and 75 RBIs, and those numbers should climb since the top four hitters for the Sox will produce more than Clark’s teammates did in Detroit. Clark also struck out nearly once in every four at-bats last season, and if he doesn’t contribute enough, Kerrigan should not hesitate to swap him and Varitek in the lineup.

Speaking of Varitek, it appears the Sox gritty catcher has made a full-recovery from a bad arm injury he suffered last season. (In fact, I was at that game, which the Sox ended up winning. Before that game, the Sox had lost the last six games I’d attended. When I go, either the Sox lose or someone gets hurt. Go figure) Anyway, Varitek’s offense had significantly picked up, and let’s hope this carries over into this season. And his strong throw down to second will both keep opponents’ runs down and allow the starting pitchers to last into the later innings.

With all the injuries last season, pitching kept the Sox in the playoff hunt until their annual end-of-the-season-meltdown. However, the Sox had to rely too much on the bullpen since their starters normally didn’t last very long, and the two guys who carried much of the load last year, Nomo and Cone, are gone. I’ll also miss Rod Beck, only because I thought it was hilarious that after trotting from the bullpen to the mound, the man would be drenched in sweat and panting erratically.

But Hermanson should be solid, especially if Kerrigan can help him master his control. Derek Lowe – although I almost put out a hit on him last season – should fair well as a starter where he won’t be asked to give everything he’s got in one inning of relief. I’m a believer in pitchers feeding off each other’s wins, and Lowe will be the wild card this summer and must find a way to win like Nomo and Cone did last season.

The Sox bullpen is stronger than it looks, but adding another quality lefty would help. (But then again, every team could use another quality lefty in its bullpen, besides Team Never-ending Flow of Large Amounts of Cash.). Watering the bullpen plants this year will be Darren Oliver, Wakefield, Garces, Sunny Kim, Fossum and Urbina, as well as Rolando Arrojo, the most solid middle relief guy they have. Despite his 5-4 record and 3.48 ERA, Arrojo was remarkable last season. He still has great stuff and needs to be used more, possibly as a setup man for Urbina alongside El Guapo.

But mark this date down: April 14 – the 11th game of the season and 3rd projected start for Pedro – which will come at Fenway against the Yankees. Pedro vs. Clemens on the mound. Manny vs. Giambi slugging it out. Garces vs. Wells racing to the bullpen refrigerator. Oh boy, it’s coming soon. Let’s just hope this year’s first Pedro vs. Clemens match-up, which will occur one year to the day from last year’s meeting, will have a better result. Last year the Sox lost 3-2. Top of the ninth, and marvelous Pete Schourek’s first pitch to Alfonso Soriano ends up in the screen. It was horrible, and guess who was there? Me, sitting next to Christinia Crippes in the right-field grandstand. That was one of the six. All those in favor of me attending this year’s match-up, say aye…