The hot corner has been a prime example of this. While Kevin Youkilis has had his glove in the mix, the Sox have taken chances on aging veterans that most around baseball were ready to mark as over the hill. First came Bill Mueller fresh off his worst season with the Giants and Cubs. Then they took on the “cancerous” contract of Mike Lowell in order to obtain Josh Beckett. Both have become local heroes for their parts in the Red Sox World Series success.

Though the latest acquisition in the way of third basemen for the Red Sox is hardly over the hill at 31. There are serious doubts about Adrian Beltre ever regaining the bat that netted him a colossal contract with the Seattle Mariners in 2005 (.334/48 HR/121 RBIs the previous year with the Dodgers).

However, if we are to trust past trends, Beltre may just be the next in line to get a bump from playing 81 of his games at Fenway Park. Here are some numbers I’m sure Beltre paid close attention to while inking his one year deal with the Sox:

(Globe Staff Photo / Barry Chin)

Bill Mueller:

2002 (SFG/CHC) - .262 / 7 HRs / 38 RBIs / .743 OPS

2003 (BOS) – .326 / 19 HRs / 85 RBIs / .938 OPS

Mueller managed to add 64 points to his average and blew away his career high in home runs. Not to mention his OPS was only a few points below fellow teammate David Ortiz’s.

Mike Lowell:

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

2005 (FLA) - .236 / 8 HRs / 58 RBIs / .658 OPS

2006 (BOS) - .284 / 20 HRs / 80 RBIs / .814 OPS

Rumors of Mike Lowell’s demise were indeed greatly exaggerated. Though no one can really pinpoint what it was that changed from Miami to Boston, Lowell managed to find his stroke again. Lowell has also been a solid leader in the Boston clubhouse and will be tough to replace in that capacity.

So now comes prediction time.

What should we expect to see from Adrian Beltre in 2010? Here’s a conservative prediction:

(BDD Photo Illustration / Getty Images)

Adrian Beltre:

2009 (SEA) - .265 / 8 HRs / 44 RBIs / .683 OPS

2010 (BOS) - .288 / 21 HRs / 85 RBIs / .812 OPS

Unfortunately those numbers aren’t worth the $10M being shelled out to Beltre this season. But if he can improve on those power totals his contract may seem a bit more fair when you factor in his gold glove defense.

Back in 2005 the Red Sox were confident that, even though they had parted ways with consummate ace Pedro Martinez, that there were plenty of pitchers to send to the mound to construct a rotation that would be effective. However an injury to Curt Shilling had the team scrambling to find it’s ace, and identity.

Though Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo had above average years, they were no match for the monstrous rotation the Chicago White Sox threw at us in the ALDS. Spelling an early demise for a short series rotation of Wakefield, Matt Clement, and David Wells.

Fret not Red Sox Nation! That’s all prologue to some good news.

Heading into 2010 the Sox will send a pitcher that has proven Ace-worthiness three times out of five with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. This gives this rotation one of the few cases of “too much pitching” that could be viewed as a bit of a problem, one they don’t mind having however.

Of the non-aces making their way to the mound for the Sox this season will be Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and Daisuke Matsuzaka. All pitchers have their issues behind them, and are looking to prove they’re worthy of the fourth and fifth spot in the rotation.

There are plenty of solutions to this problem, however each and every one of them leaves a pitcher miffed in the process. Though it may ruffle his feathers, Buchholz may benefit from starting the year in AAA again and keeping his innings under control for the first month or two of the season, seeing Matsuzaka and Wakefield filling out the rotation.

After the first few months of the season starting pitching will start to get thinner with the lack of off-days and Wakefield could be moved to a spot-starting role to spell tired aces and Buchholz could take the fifth spot in the rotation, leaving him a bit fresher down the stretch.

The only other viable option right now is to trade Buchholz, however he has next to no value on the market since there is little demand, I would expect to see him waived in the San Diego Padres face in July along with a massive package of prospects and finally get the Adrian Gonzales deal done. (We may even see this deal get done before July is Ortiz starts out slow this year again.)

Whatever the 2010 season brings the Red Sox, there’s a good chance that the Sox will have an ace on the mound when they need one. And that having too much pitching is a problem the Red Sox are looking forward to dealing with.

With the 2009 season behind him, Terry Francona will look to lead the Red Sox into the 2010 season with some new players on the diamond. He’ll also be looking to lead them into 2010 with a coaching staff that has shifted to fit the departure of Brad Mills (Now manager for the Houston Astros). Though some may be sitting in different chairs or standing by different bases, this coaching staff is the lifeblood of the Red Sox.

Manager

Terry Francona (7th Season)

Terry Francona has had the good fortune of having a front office that will aggressively pursue the talent necessary to put a winning squad on the field year in, year out. He’s also followed two of the more forgettable (or unfortunately unforgettable) managers in recent Sox history in Jimy Williams and Grady Little.

7 seasons later and Red Sox nation has a pretty good idea of what they’re getting out of Francona each year. His hands off approach has kept the fans from really being able to grab on to any particular issues with his coaching style, however 2009 saw an increase in fans questioning whether Francona had gone from hands off approach to falling asleep at the helm.

Terry, like the Sox, is hamstrung by a lack of thump in the middle of the lineup this year, however with Mike Lowell, Bill Hall, Jed Lowry, and Jeremy Hermida all on the bench Terry should have enough managing between the bench and the rotation/bullpen to worry about the offense.

Bench Coach

Demarlo Hale (5th Season, four as third-base coach)

This is where the Red Sox are feeling the coaching void the hardest. Terry had been quite open with the media about how comfortable he felt with Brad Mills, however you can’t stay a bench coach forever. So with “Millsy”, as Terry referred to him, Demarlo Hale has moved from his post as 3rd base coach to help Terry run the team a bit more closely.

Demarlo was one of the few 3rd base coaches that wasn’t heckled/chastised by the Boston media over sending guys home. This begs the question; Will Demarlo be as effective as a bench coach as he was as a 3rd base coach?

Hitting Coach

Dave Magaden (4th Season)

With an offense that has already been nailed to the wall as underwhelming this will undoubtedly be a make or break season for Magaden as the Sox hitting coach. He already had enough heat on him early in 2009 when David Ortiz wasn’t hitting Jacoby Ellsbury’s weight. He was saved by the surging bats of Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay, however both saw their productivity drop as the season wore on as well.

Magaden will have a reclamation project on his hands as well with new 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre. No doubt Magaden will try to resurrect the doubles/home run machine that has laid dormant in Beltre since 2004.

Pitching Coach

John Farrell (4th Season)

Farrell has received offers to manage ball clubs the past two off seasons, and has again decided to stick it out with the Red Sox for another year. Farrell has been credited with some of the success stories with the Sox. Most notably, Farrell changed Josh Becketts’ delivery heading into his 2007 season which saw Beckett finish with a 20-7 record, 3.27 ERA, and a 2nd place finish in Cy Young Award voting (Oh, and a world series championship!).

This year Farrell’s most watched story lines will be; Which Daisuke shows up this year? Can Jon Lackey perform with the Sox? Is Clay Buchholz ready to pitch a quality full season? Is Daniel Bard ready to close? And of course more story lines will pop up as the season wares on.

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Red Sox Nation is still reeling from the New York Yankees winning it all in 2009, myself included. However the front office seems to be putting together a team in 2010 that, while it may not be able to slug run for run with the Yankees, intends to keep those batted balls from ever finding a grassy green patch or seat to call their home.

The secret weapon unleashed by the front office this season is the UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating). UZR takes into account many aspects of defense and run prevention and assigns a numerical value to the player. The Red Sox outfield has a combined UZR rating of 29.8, whereas the Yankees combined outfield UZR rating is a dismal 4.1.

That isn’t to say this outfield has no pop. The projected starting outfield for the Red Sox in 2010 combined for the second most home runs in the AL East in 2009. Only trailing the Yankees.

Left Field

Jacoby Ellsbury

Many Red Sox fans were surprised, perhaps even outraged when the final decision came down from Terry Francona that Ellsbury would start the 2010 season in Left Field, losing his center field spot to newcomer Mike Cameron. But if you stop and look at the more advanced fielding numbers there is a case to be made for this.

In 2009 Ellsbury had only recorded two errors, it was two more than he had recorded in all of 2008. It may be a small number, but there is a number too big to be ignored; his UZR rating. Ellsbury dropped from a moderately respectable 3.0 rating in 2008 to an atrocious -18.6 in 2009, whereas Jacoby has a career UZR rating of 10.1 in 80 games in left field.

I still have my doubts as to whether this is the right long term decision for the team, however it’s hard to argue with the numbers for the 2010 squad.’

Center Field

Mike Cameron

The Red Sox will be Cameron’s seventh team in 16 seasons, however, his wanderlust has little to do with his abilities. Cameron may be only a career .250 hitter, but has hit 21+ home runs in five of the last six seasons and is a two-time gold glover in center field. He also boasts a very respectable UZR rating in 2009 on of 10.0.

The issues with Cameron come two fold; age & strikeouts. Cameron will be 37 heading into the 2010 season, and has been anything but patient at the plate in his career averaging close to one walk for every two strikeouts. Cameron won’t be expected to carry this offense by any means, but it could become a problem if Cameron becomes a rally killer in the six or seven hole in this line-up.

The biggest upside from Cameron may be an intangible. Hunger. He’s been vocal about the fact that his signing with the Red Sox was in pursuit of a World Series ring. Something that has eluded him in four trips to the postseason.

Right Field

J.D. Drew

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

$15 million dollars. That’s the annual salary being paid to J.D. Drew to man right field for the Boston Red Sox. This has made Drew a magnet for criticism since he inked the contract back in 2007, and most of it is warranted. However, if Drew were making somewhere in the area of $8 million per year we may look at his time in Boston a bit differently.

Drew has a batting average of .276 since joining the Sox and has increased his home run totals each year (11 in 07′, 19 in ’08, and 24 in ’09). And in 2008 Drew was the glue that held the Red Sox together for it’s first 71 games. Drew batted .303, hit 16 home runs, and drove in 49 runs, all earning him his first All Star appearance (of which he was the MVP).

I’m not saying Drew can be counted on to carry this team, remember Drew only played 28 games after that All Star appearance in 2008 and hit .211 in that span. He’s aloof to pressure, he’s injury prone, and he can sometimes be anti-clutch. But Drew is our right fielder this year, and we could do a lot worse.

Outfield Bench

Jeremy Hermida

I’m not the biggest Jeremy Hermida fan out there, but he was traded to us for Hunter Jones and Jose Alverez (both were not going to impact the major league club) to be a replacement for the, now free agent, Rocco Baldelli. Hermida may not be a stud outfielder like he was expected to be when the Marlins took him with the 11th pick overall in the 2002 draft, but he’s just a fourth outfielder in Boston.

Personally I don’t like a guy with high strike out totals as a guy to look to for bench hitting. But I think that there is still some untapped talent left in Hermida, and with J.D. Drew’s injury history I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Hermida gets a chance to show the Red Sox whether that talent is still there or not.

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Theo Epstein has voiced his belief that the best direction for the Red Sox to head is one of run prevention in the form of better pitching and defense. Though the move seems to be drawing more criticism than praise, you can’t argue with the product Theo has put together to make his point. With an average or better defender at every position behind the pitcher, hitters may have trouble seeing the ball through the glare of all of those gold gloves.

First Base

Kevin Youkilis

2009 was another solid year for the versatile corner infielder. Although we saw his home run totals drop from 29 in ’08 to 27 in ’09, and his batting average dip from .312 to .305, Youkilis is one of the few bonafide run producers in this Red Sox lineup heading into 2010. Youkilis was third on the team in RBIs last year behind Jason Bay (now a Met), and David Ortiz (ready to carry the load again?). As of right now it seems that Kevin Youkilis is an elite fielder at his position with an above average bat. The question remains: Is he ready to take it to the next level? Or is the organization going to have to look elsewhere for pop?

Second Base

Dustin Pedroia

An early power-outage in 2009 had many worried that Pedroia had been a one hit wonder in ’08. However, Pedroia quickly quieted those critics. After entering July with only four home runs, Pedroia belted 13 the rest of the way and ended up almost matching his total of 19 in ’08. Now, this isn’t to say I expect Pedroia to be the cure for our power problems. But it speaks to an important part of Dustin that defines him as a player; Character. He is a Gold Glover at second base, he has cemented the top of the Red Sox line-up giving it a number two hitter that’s exactly what you look for; Doubles, more walks than strikeouts, and a run scoring machine. If you’re looking to poke holes in this defense or line-up, start elsewhere.

Third Base

Adrian Beltre

Personally I think Beltre may be the best signing the Red Sox made this off-season as far as potential value. Adrian is considered by many to be one of, if not the, best defensive third basemen playing the game today. That alone helps Theo’s master plan of run prevention, however, that isn’t a reason to throw $10 million at a guy. Adrian quietly put together some respectable seasons in Seattle, although they were all seen as failures due to his inability to repeat his numbers before signing there (.334 /48 HR/ 121 RBI). However, to combine his defensive skill set with a projection somewhere near .270 / 27 HR / 90 RBI isn’t a bad trade-off for $10M. Don’t forget that Beltre hit in the cavernous Safeco Field for the last five seasons and is now being transplanted into a park that is very friendly to right handed fly ball hitters. Who knows? Maybe Beltre will find that stroke again.

Shortstop

Marco Scutaro

Life begins at 33, or at least for Marco Scutaro’s career. Marco is one of the riskier signings by the Red Sox front office this off-season. The simple reason being that Marco has never even come close to his 2009 numbers. However, if you look closer at Marco’s body of work you’ll see that the biggest improvement he’s had is in walks where he jumped from 57 in ’08 to 90 in ’09. This shows that as a hitter Marco has become more patient at the plate and is letting pitchers get deeper in counts, improving the chances of seeing a good pitch to hit later in counts. The Red Sox preach this to all their hitters from the minors up. I can’t think of a better place to foster that improvement and make it grow. The only thing that is left to be seen is if Scutaro can play the field well enough. He’s filling the shoes of beloved defensive stud Alex Gonzales whom is now filling in the hole Scutaro left in Toronto. So expect to see the parallels drawn early and often.

Infield Bench

Mike Lowell (3B/1B/DH)

Mike Lowell is looking to find his way back into the lineup anyway he can in 2010. Lowell was close to being traded to Texas to platoon as their everyday 1B/DH combo. However due to a thumb injury that Lowell has since had surgery on, he will be finishing out his contract here in Boston. It is yet to be seen what capacity the Sox will use him in, however, I think he will be spelling Ortiz at DH against lefties, and giving the occasional day off to either Youkilis or Beltre. There is also the possibility he could be traded from now until the July deadline.

Jed Lowrie (SS/2B)

Lowrie has had some hard luck since getting called up to the Red Sox. In 2008, Lowrie was called up to replace an injured Julio Lugo and did so very well with the bat early on. However, his numbers slipped a bit towards the end, due to a broken hand that he played through. He was then given the chance to compete with Lugo for the starting job last year but once again was brought down by an injury. He is now staring a two year contract with Marco Scutaro in the face and is looking to show the Sox why they should have let it ride with him at shortstop.

Bill Hall (2B/SS/3B/OF)

Bill Hall is looking to resurrect his career from the bottom up. He has long been vaunted as a super utility player, however that has been his downfall since he has never been able to nail down a position while in the majors. He has also quickly declined from his career years in ’05 (Hit .291) and ’06 (Hit 35 HR). He has yet to hit north of .260 since then and has seen his power fall off, averaging 12 homers a year since ’07. Hall will likely get some playing time with the Sox due to his ability to play so many positions on the diamond. However it’s imperative that he performs well early on if he wishes to keep his job since the Red Sox basically got him for free from Seattle.

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Pitchers and Catchers – 1/19

With the Celtics amidst a slew of lackluster performances since injuries to both Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett there has been little to cheer about this side of Brian Scalabrine sightings.

However, the Celtics are looking ahead to a week that could see them rebound in a big way with the return of Rasheed Wallace (Monday) and Kevin Garnett (Friday).

Wallace, who was a late scratch from a loss Monday to the Atlanta Hawks, is looking to rebound from a left foot sprain he suffered the night before in Toronto. Although expected to be cleared to play, indications are that Wallace will have his minutes monitored for at least his first game back. A rotation of Glen Davis and Wallace is the most likely combination, improving the rotation at power forward for the last three games by leaving Scalabrine (27 points in 69 minutes) as the odd man out.

As for Garnett, Coach Rivers has said the current plan is to “have four guys come in and do the dummy offense on [Thursday], get that in”. If all goes well and Garnett is up to speed and cleared to play the Celtics will be looking at sending their opening night starting five on to the court for the first time in 2010.

The Celtics have gone 5-4 in the absence of Kevin Garnett; and 1-2 without Rasheed Wallace. That one win with Wallace came against the NBA’s running joke, the New Jersey Nets.