The Red Sox got significantly better this offseason, and they needed to after finishing an embarrassing third in the AL East behind not only the Yankees, but also a team from Canada, the Blue Jays. (I promise, that’s my only dig at the Sox as a Yankee fan in this preview.)

In all honesty, the Red Sox are certainly stronger top to bottom now than they were last season, and it’s even fair to say that the 2007 team is better than the 2004 World Series winning edition. On paper.

Of course, as we all know, championships aren’t won on paper, or in spring training, and the big-name (big-price) players that the Sox brought in this offseason will need to produce from Day One or it will be a long, lonely summer for Theo the Wonder Boy.

The biggest, but not the most important, story at Red Sox spring training is obviously the madness that surrounds Daisuke Matsuzaka on a daily basis. Of course, that’s to be expected when a team is willing to pay $51 million just for the right to negotiate with a player. And even considering the pitcher’s new $52 million contract on top of the bid, it was a given that every pitch Dice-K throws this year will be picked apart and over-analyzed. Well, to this point at least, Dice-K has not disappointed.

The second biggest, but still not most important, story about the Red Sox rotation is the rebirth of uber-closer Jonathan Papelbon as a starting pitcher. The official reason for the move is to protect Papelbon’s health, as he struggled with a sore shoulder down the stretch last year and had to be shut down before season’s end. Papelbon was the best closer in baseball for the first half of last season and his final numbers (35 saves, 0.92 ERA, 75 K’s in 68.1 IP) weren’t too shabby. The reason I don’t get this move is because the Sox know Papelbon is a proven entity at the end of games. They’re fooling noone but themselves if they say they know exactly what they’ll get out of him as a starter. It’s a lot easier to blow batters away with dominant stuff for an inning at a time; it’s a lot harder to do so over 7 innings. The result of this experiment will be interesting to see, but my bet is you’ll see Papelbon back in the pen before too long.

Lost in all the hysteria over Matsuzaka and Papelbon is the fact that neither is going to be the pitcher most critical to the Red Sox success this year. That man is Josh Beckett, the Texas-bred fireballer that had a major letdown after a spectacular start to his Red Sox career. In June the Sox were thrilled with the deal they had made with the Marlins last offseason. Beckett had only cost Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and lesser prospects, and he was leading baseball in wins. However, by September Beckett had fallen apart; all Sanchez had done was throw a no-hitter and Ramirez was on his way to being named NL Rookie of the Year. To say the least, Beckett’s 5.01 ERA and league-worst 36 HR allowed will not cut it this season.

Curt Schilling may be Boston’s ‘ace’ and Opening Day starter, but if everything goes according to plan he’ll only be the fourth best pitcher in the rotation this year. Here’s another fun tidbit…his middle name is Montague. C’mon, how many of you so called ‘huge Red Sox fans’ knew that? I’m betting not many, but I digress. My point is that Schilling may still have it (15-7, 3.97 in ’06), but the best-case scenario for the Red Sox is that he puts up the numbers he always has, and is matched by the Sox trio of young would-be aces.

The Sox staff goes six deep with Tim Wakefield and Jon Lester. Wakefield’s knuckleball is subject to the day’s winds (he went 15-1 in the first half a while back, but is just as likely to get hammered as he is to pitch a gem), and Lester is making a wonderful recovery from cancer and is on track to contribute to the Sox this season.

Right now the competition for closer looks to be between Joel Piniero and Craig Hansen with wily veteran Mike Timlin waiting in the wings as a fallback option. Of course, Hansen has missed time with a back injury and Timlin is 41, with a strained oblique muscle threatening his Opening Day availability, and no guarantee he’ll be able to deliver his customary solid performance this year.

 Here’s a radical idea though. Since Piniero stinks (trust me), and Hansen hasn’t shown he can step in and dominate right away as Papelbon did last season, what about slotting Wakefield into the closer’s role? He’s done it before (15-for-18 in save opportunities for the Sox in 1999), and his knuckleball will be a ridiculous change of pace from the hard-throwing starters and relievers the Sox would have slotted in front of him. Actually, since I’m a Yankee fan, I hope Boston doesn’t do this. Tito, if you’re reading this…delete this paragraph from your memory.