While he struggled at times in his first year, Dice-K did something few have ever done in Boston - be a rookie pitcher for a World Series champion in Beantown.

The Moves They Made

The biggest moves for the Red Sox occurred in the 2006-07 offseason, with multiple free agent signings. Daisuke Matsuzaka came to the Red Sox by way of a $51.1 million posting fee and a six-year, $52 million contract. Dice-K, as Red Sox Nation knows him by, did not fully live up to all the advance hype, but he would finish eighth in the majors with 201 strikeouts and he did win 15 games, so he was far from a bust. Many are projecting a turnaround in 2008 for Matsuzaka similar to the one Beckett experienced this season in his second year in Boston.

Joining Matsuzaka in coming over from Japan was Hideki Okajima. While many speculated this signing was simply to appease Matsuzaka and to make him more comfortable in Boston, that clearly was not the case, and Okajima became one of the Sox’ most valuable relievers as the season wore on.

On the down side, the Red Sox did offer significant contracts to J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo in the offseason as well. While Drew could possibly turn things around, and he did hit better after his son’s surgery in early August, Lugo is looking already like a bust. Also, when it looked like Jonathan Papelbon would be moving into the rotation, there was speculation that the new closer might be free agent signing Joel Pineiro. Papelbon ultimately returned to closing before the season began, and Pineiro would find himself being called less and less from the pen before ultimately being moved to St. Louis for a player to be named later, and one has to doubt the Sox really cared which player was named.

The Red Sox acquired Eric Gagne for Kason Gabbard, David Murphy, and Engel Beltre on July 31st, in a great trade on paper, but one that quickly backfired on them as the one-time Cy Young winner realized he wasn’t pitching in Los Angeles or Texas anymore, but meaningful games in Fenway Park. Whether or not the Sox were right in choosing to send away Gabbard rather than Lester is still yet to be determined, but I will say for now at least they made the right move selecting Lester who won the clinching game of the World Series.

Down the stretch, the Red Sox would pick up Bobby Kielty and Royce Clayton from waivers. Who would have though Bobby Kielty would hit what turned out to be the World Series winning pinch-hit home run?

With Kielty in town, Epstein made one more “correcting a mistake” trade, sending Wily Mo Pena to the Nationals, where former Reds’ general manager Jim Bowden is aggressively trying to reunite all of his old Reds in D.C. In exchange, the Red Sox acquired Diamondbacks’ prospect Chris Carter. A defensive liability, Carter has put up solid numbers at the plate and might be up if not for the presence of Youkilis and Ortiz at first and DH respectively, but they will force him to return to Triple-A to open 2008. He is one to watch, however.