Jacoby Ellsbury

The Boston Red Sox have the best offense in baseball and it's not close. 

They hold the top spot in runs scored, average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. 

With the best offense in baseball, you'd expect the Red Sox to have a player in the MVP conversation, but not three.

In his first two years in the Major Leagues, Boston Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury hasn’t been a guy who has flashed much power. In 2008 and 2009, Ellsbury hit a combined 17 home runs and had an ISO (isolated power) of .114 each season.

It's time for the Red Sox to prepare to trade Jacoby Ellsbury before the trading deadline.  In fact, unless his hitting improves dramatically, I think he should definitely be traded.

The "Texas Red Sox Massacre" of this past weekend was not the opening series that Red Sox fans had dreamed about since December. Buchholz surrendered almost half as many home runs as he did all of last season, Lester made it clear that he knows which month this is and Lackey's ERA is now sitting just north of 22. The bullpen wasn't much better, as every reliever pitched and only Reyes, Albers, and Jenks failed to surrender a run. Still, serious concerns at this point are unnecessary- the team is bound to win at least a game before the season is out.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

After batting .301 with 70 steals in 2009, Jacoby Ellsbury made a strong case for being selected as a top 20 player at this time last season.

Terry Francona has been given a Ferrari and is expected to drive it into the winner's circle. But to maximize the potential, he will need to take good care of it throughout the rigors of a 162-game schedule.

It would be hard to really screw up this lineup, as stacked as it is, but there are some changes that need to be made to make sure the team runs like a well-oiled machine. He's got the pieces, now its time to put them in the right places.

What makes a great leadoff hitter?

Getting on base at a high rate is a good start, but everyone in the lineup is expected to do that. A good eye always helps, but he shouldn't be afraid to swing. Speed is a bonus, but some of the fastest players in baseball hit in the bottom of the batting order.

The truth is that there's no formula for the perfect leadoff hitter. Every player approaches the game differently and every team has a different offensive style. But that doesn't diminish the importance of the leadoff man.

One of the most exciting, positive "unknowns" about the 2011 Boston Red Sox is the combined impact Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury will have on the basepaths. 

Speculation has focused on the Sox' newly improved hitting lineup and its strong pitching rotation, but, relatively little attention has been given to just how extraordinary it is for a team to have two of the game's most prolific base stealers on the same side for nine innings.  

Spring is almost here. Okay, not really. A good portion of the country is currently covered in snow. But it is just around the corner. And with spring comes the baseball fan's favorite thing to hear after a long, cold, baseball-less winter: Pitchers and Catchers report.

We here at Baseball Professor think about our readers first and ourselves second—albeit a close second. That’s why we decided to reach out to other bloggers (who follow their respective teams more closely than we do) to give you a deeper look into the important issues every fantasy owner has to come to grips with this season. Our seventh installment is with the Boston Red Sox and comes courtesy of Mike Silver from Fire Brand of the AL.