The Red Sox Team of the Decade: 2000-2009

This was one of the most successful decades in franchise history, really second only to 1910-1919.  The decade featured two World Championships (2004, 2007), two seasons in which they made it to Game 7 of the ALCS (2003, 2008), and two seasons in which they made it to the ALDS (2005, 2009).  A number of star players spent a long period of time with the Red Sox during this decade. 

CATCHER - JASON VARITEK

Who else?  Varitek was the primary catcher throughout the vast majority of the decade, only missing half the 2001 season with injury and relinquishing the starting position to Victor Martinez in the latter half of 2009.  During that time, he was a three-time All Star (2003, 2005, 2008), and probably should have gone in 2004.  He also won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in 2005.  Varitek hit more than 20 home runs twice and came close a couple more times.  This was one of the easiest decisions in this post.  

FIRST BASE - KEVIN YOUKILIS

For two years (2008-2009), Youkilis was one of the best hitters in the game.  Unfortunately, his prime was all too brief.  Youkilis came up to the Red Sox as a third-baseman in 2004 and spent a considerable amount of time at the hot corner through the 2005 season.  In 2006, he was moved to first base and responded by becoming one of the best defensive first-basemen in the game.  He won a Gold Glove at the position in 2007 and was an All Star in 2008 and 2009.  For those two seasons, he hit .309/.401/.559 with 56 home runs and 209 RBIs as the primary offensive force in the lineup.  That two-year stint was not his only time at first for Bosto, but is the primary reason that he is here.  His only real competition for this post is Kevin Millar who 52 home runs over three seasons with Boston.

SECOND BASE - DUSTIN PEDROIA

Well, you certainly can not ignore a player who won the MVP Award in coming up with a Team of the Decade.  Of course, that is not all that Pedroia did during the decade as he also won the Rookie of the Year Award, was a two-time All Star, and won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in 2008.  In his MVP season, Pedroia led the league in runs (118), hits (213), and doubles (54) while hitting .326/.376/.493 with 17 home runs, 83 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases.  He was a complete player.  Pedroia was only a regular for three seasons during the decade, but no other Red Sox player was a regular for even two full seasons at the position.  Mark Loretta is the only player to have been an All Star at the position other than Pedroia, but he only played one season with them.

SHORTSTOP - NOMAR GARCIAPARRA

Shortstop was a position with a lot of turnover throughout the decade, and a lot of disappointing performances.  And so we end up with Garciaparra who had three great seasons as the Red Sox shortstop, and two injury-plagued ones.  He won the batting title in 2000 with a .372 mark, the highest of his career.  He also had three 20 home run seasons and two 100 RBI seasons in the decade and led the league in doubles (56) in 2002.  Garciaparra was an All Star in three seasons during the decade (2000, 2002, 2003).  It is a shame that his Red Sox career ended so prematurely and bitterly.  The Red Sox spent the rest of the decade attempting to replace his production, but no one came close.  Julio Lugo played the second-most games at the position during the decade, but was a big disappointment.  

THIRD BASE - MIKE LOWELL

This is probably one of the toughest calls in this post.  The decision ultimately came down to Bill Mueller versus Mike Lowell.  Shea Hillenbrand was eliminated quickly, despite an All Star appearance in 2002.  Lowell was a member of the 2007 World Championship team and finished fifth in MVP voting that season after he hit .324/.378/.501 with 21 home runs and 120 RBIs while playing stellar defense at the hot corner.  He was an All Star that season.  He also had very good seasons in 2006, 2008, and 2009 hitting between .274 to .290 with 15-20 home runs and 73-80 RBIs each season.  Statistically, very close seasons.  He just edges Mueller due to playing one more full season.  But Mueller was a big part of the 2004 World Championship and won a batting title (.326) and Silver Slugger in 2003.  It just came down to games played, and Lowell had the slight edge.

RIGHT FIELD - TROT NIXON

This was not quite as easy a decision as I think a lot of Red Sox fans would like to admit.  Nixon wins it fairly convincingly, but he was injury-plagued throughout the decade and hampered by an inability to hit lefties well.  His best three years in the decade are actually not that much better than the three seasons J.D. Drew put up in the decade.  Nixon does have the significant edge in games played however and so he comes out ahead.  Nixon was a vastly underrated player who was one of the best hitters on the team from 2001-2003.  He hit more than 20 home runs and drove in more than 75 runs each of those seasons.  His best year was 2003 when he hit .306/.396/.578 with 28 home runs and 87 RBIs.  Drew though, put up the only All Star season from right field during the decade when he hit .280/.408/.519 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs, but was a beast in June.  He won the All Star MVP award that season.  Both players had huge postseason home runs as well.  

CENTER FIELD - JOHNNY DAMON

This is probably the most open position in the post.  Do you go with Carl Everett, who was an All Star in 2000 after hitting  34 home runs and driving in 108 runs, both highs for the position in the decade?  Do you go for Jacoby Ellsbury, who set a team record for stolen bases with 70 in 2009, one season after stealing 50 more?  You probably do not take Coco Crisp who was somewhat ordinary for three seasons.  My pick is Johnny Damon, a two-time All Star in 2002 and 2005 who was basically the face of the 2004 World Championship team.  His best season with the team was that 2004 season when he hit .304/.380/.477 with 20 home runs and 94 RBIs while stealing 19 bases.  Damon was also a very good defensive center-fielder, albeit with a weak throwing arm.  He led the league in triples in 2002 with 11 and stole more than 30 bases with Boston twice.  

LEFT FIELD - MANNY RAMIREZ

This one is easy.  Ramirez was signed to a massive free agent contract with the Red Sox prior to 2001 and was an All Star ever season he was with the team.  Among the many highlights of his time in Boston was his World Series MVP Award, batting title in 2002 (.349), and home run lead in 2004 (43).  He was a prodigious power hitter who won five Silver Slugger Awards and finished in the Top 10 in MVP balloting five times.  For his Red Sox career, which took place entirely within this decade, he hit .312/.411/.588 with 274 home runs and 868 RBIs.  He was traded during the 2008 season for Jason Bay, who managed to be almost as good for a season-and-a-half to close out the decade.

DESIGNATED HITTER - DAVID ORTIZ

To think, Ortiz was actually non-tendered by the Twins.  Who would have thought that he would become this monster power hitter?  This is another extremely easy one as Ortiz was an All Star five times (2004-2008), a Silver Slugger four times (2004-2007), and finished in the Top 5 of MVP balloting five straight years (2003-2007).  During that time, he led the league in home runs in 2006 (a new team record 54), RBIs in 2005 and 2006 (148 and 137), and OBP in 2007 (.445).  He was not just a power hitter either as he hit over .300 three times in the decade.  He hit 259 home runs during the decade for Boston, second only to Ramirez.  

STARTING PITCHER - PEDRO MARTINEZ

The only Red Sox pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in the decade was Martinez in 2000.  That was an absolutely incredible season in which he was 18-6 with a miniscule 1.74 ERA and 284 strikeouts in just 217 innings.  It was one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time.  He probably should have won it in 2002 and 2003.  In 2002, he won 20 games and led the league in ERA (2.26), strikeouts (239), and WHIP (0.923).  Really, how did he NOT win it?  2003 was a down season in wins (14), but he led the league in ERA (2.22) and WHIP (1.039).  Martinez was an All Star in 2000 and 2002.

STARTING PITCHER - CURT SCHILLING

The Red Sox wanted to shore up their starting pitching in 2004 to try to make another run at the World Series after falling just short in 2003.  They acquired Schilling and got just the pitcher they needed.  He finished second in the Cy Young voting in 2004 after compiling a 21-6 record with a 3.26 ERA and 203 strikeouts.  He won two huge games in the postseason after an experimental procedure suturing his tendon to the skin, bleeding into his sock both games.  He had a rough season in 2005 but was good enough in both 2006 and 2007.  His final start of his career was winning Game 2 of the 2007 World Series against the Rockies.  His numbers were not terrific other than 2004, but he is a major part of the team's story in two World Championship seasons.  That is enough to get him on this team.

STARTING PITCHER - JOSH BECKETT

Another ace starting pitcher acquired in a trade by the Red Sox, Beckett was the top starter on the staff in the World Championship season of 2007.  He had a rough first season with the Red Sox, going 16-11 with a 5.01 ERA, but he adapted and finished second in the Cy Young race in 2007.  He had a record of 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA and 194 strikeouts.  He was an All Star that season and won the ALCS MVP.  2008 was a bit of a letdown, but he made the All Star team again in 2009 when he was 17-6 with a 3.86 ERA and 199 strikeouts.  Other starting pitchers considered for this team include Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jon Lester. 

PITCHER - DEREK LOWE

There are not many pitchers who have won 20 games in one season and saved 40 games in another.  Lowe is one of those rare pitchers.  Lowe was an All Star as a closer in 2000 when he led the league in saves (42), and as a starting pitcher in 2002 when he was 21-8 with a 2.58 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 219.2 innings.  Lowe pitched a no hitter as well in 2002 against the Devil Rays and finished third in the Cy Young race.  He was a 17 game winner in 2003 and won 14 in 2004.  Lowe won the clinching games in each of the postseason series in 2004.  

PITCHER - TIM WAKEFIELD

He may not have had any truly great seasons in this decade, but how can you not include a pitcher who spent the entire decade with the team?  During the decade, Wakefield compiled a record of 114-105 with a 4.40 ERA and 1,293 strikeouts.  He was a 16 game winner in 2005 and a 17 game winner in 2007 as a starting pitcher.  He had a 2.81 ERA as a jack-of-all-trades pitcher in 2002.  And he was an All Star for the first time as a 42-year-old starter in 2009.  The knuckleballer deserves to be on this team no matter what.

RELIEF PITCHER - MIKE TIMLIN

Timlin spent six seasons as the anchor of the Red Sox bullpen.  He pitched in 394 games during that time, leading the league in games pitched in 2005 (81).  He was most often a middle reliever, but did manage to save a few games here and there and was the team's closer for a little while in 2005, saving 13 games.  That was his best season as he was 7-3 with a 2.24 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 80.1 innings.  Timlin was a reliable bullpen arm and was integral to the team in the 2004 and 2007 World Championship seasons.  Manny Delcarmen was also considered for this team.

RELIEF PITCHER - HIDEKI OKAJIMA

One of the most reliable left-handed relievers for the team during this decade was Okajima.  He was actually an All Star in 2007, almost unheard of for a middle reliever, and was sixth in Rookie of the Year balloting.  Okajima was an incredibly deceptive reliever who racked up an impressive 2.72 ERA over 198 games and 192 innings pitched during the decade.  He struck out 176 and saved six games with a 12-4 record during that time.  Alan Embree and Javier Lopez were also considered for this team.

RELIEF PITCHER - JONATHAN PAPELBON

Papelbon holds the Red Sox all-time record for saves and was an incredibly successful closer in the latter half of this decade.  He put together one of the greatest rookie seasons for a closer of all time in 2006 when he saved 35 games with a 0.92 ERA, striking out 75 in 68.1 innings.  He finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting.  He was almost as good over the next three seasons, saving 151 games for the team with a ridiculous 1.84 ERA over 268 games.  He struck out 346 batters in 298 innings in that time.  Papelbon was an All Star each season from 2006 to 2009.  He is an easy selection as closer for this team.  Ugueth Urbina and Keith Foulke were also considered for this team.