Red Sox start new era in Boston with Sandoval, Ramirez

The halcyon days of the Boston Red Sox ended rather unceremoniously in 2014, one season after the club celebrated its third World Series championship in 10 years.

Losing Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia proved too great to overcome, as both found new homes as free agents shortly after hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy in Boston. The club's more seasoned players, meanwhile, started showing their age, many of whom fell victim to either injury or regression. The contingent of prospects thrust into everyday roles did little to prove they were ready to ply their trade at the game's highest level.

When the 2014 campaign mercifully ended, the Red Sox found themselves with an ugly 71-91 record, the function of the second-worst offense in the American League and a pitching staff that fashioned the seventh-worst ERA in the majors. 

Beset with a roster populated by both highly-paid veterans and compelling prospects with little left to prove in the minor leagues, general manager Ben Cherington entered the offseason tasked with easing the transition from one era to another without sacrificing wins for a second successive year. Though he was granted clemency this past season after engineering a championship in 2013, the team's delightfully insatiable fan base doesn't tolerate rebuilding efforts and Red Sox nation won't abide another losing season in 2015.

Cherington thus opted to act aggressively this winter. He reportedly locked up two of the top commodities on the free-agent market within a 24-hour span by signing both Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval to five-year contracts between Sunday night and Monday morning.

The club has yet to confirm the deals, but Cherington's reported aggressiveness to expand his asset base through free agency makes a lot of sense given the current construction of his roster. With both Ramirez and Sandoval under contract, the Red Sox boast myriad opportunities on the trade market that didn't exist 24 hours ago. Wielding an increasingly broad range of assets, the Red Sox can pretty much head in any direction they choose. Trade Mookie Betts and Henry Owens for Cole Hamels? Sure. Unload Shane Victorino for salary relief? Why not. Swap Yoenis Cespedes for relief help? Giddy up.

As such, it's not all that worrisome that the Red Sox appear to have more players than positions at the moment. Cherington's closet is now overflowing with toys, and presumably all other 29 general managers will be eager to play with him. 

Even if he opts to stay quiet until Opening Day, though, Cherington still reeled in a pair of marketable superstars ready to supplant the elder statesmen of the franchise, one of whom may not be in Boston beyond the 2015 season. David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia still provide value on the field and in the clubhouse, but the two are poised to become complementary pieces to their new teammates.

The Red Sox roster as currently constituted likely won't be the one that heads to Philadelphia in April to open the 2015 season. Regardless of what additional moves Cherington makes, though, a new era is very much underway in Boston.

For now, it remains Ortiz's f------ city, but Boston could soon belong to the Panda.