Sox Don't Sleep on This Nap

Mike Napoli tweeted his return to Boston...and Sox fans couldn't be happier.

Napoli, in my opinion, was the most important of the cadre of free agents hanging in the dollarsphere, reportedly agreeing to a two year, 32 million dollar deal.

The Red Sox now have established right-handed power, with the power production of Will Middlebrooks at the other corner and Xander Bogaerts at shortstop to be determined.

As of now, the most likely lineup will look something like this:

RF Victorino
LF  Nava
2B  Pedroia
DH  Ortiz
1B  Napoli
SS  Bogaerts
C   Pierzynski
3B  Middlebrooks
CF Bradley, Jr.

Also, there's huge money potentially coming off the payroll at the end of the season (pending the disposition of Jon Lester and John Lackey). Roughly speaking Ortiz (11.5M), Dempster (13M), Peavey (14.5M), Ross (3M), Pierzynski (8.25M) yield over 50M dollars to be redeployed. Obviously, the Sox still have interest in Stephen Drew who still has a few other potential destinations...

The speculation re: the return of Drew also impacts the Sox potential interest in Matt Kemp (depending on how interested the Dodgers are in acquiring more pitching and a third baseman and in taking on some of Kemp's remaining contract).

Kemp's remaining money is simply Crawfordesque. Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. (Table from baseball-reference.com)

When healthy, Kemp had been a force.

Source: http://www.mlbdepthcharts.com/boston-red-sox-payroll/

With Jonathan Papelbon (13M) on the block, will the Yankees be interested or will David Robertson be The Man in the Bronx?