If you want to know about Boston Sports Media, and in particular their coverage of the Red Sox, take some headache medicine and read through some of the Boston papers over the last four or five days. The best example I have seen to date that shows the negativity, narrow-mindedness and just general obtuseness that Boston writers have applied to the Johnny Damon departure was a piece the Globe ran yesterday called “Quick Shots”. A number of the Globe’s writers contributed paragraphs regarding how badly Damon’s loss will hurt the Sox. We get this nugget from Nick Cafardo…

The Sox will also miss Damon’s clubhouse presence. For four seasons, it was Damon’s clubhouse. He was also the go-to guy for the media, commenting on easy and tough questions in good times and bad. He changed the culture in the Sox’ clubhouse for the better. How do they replace him? Anything short of Torii Hunter or Andruw Jones, and you don’t.

…And this from former talent Bob Ryan…

Casey Stengel explained why his first pick for the expansion 1962 Mets was catcher Hobie Landrith: ‘’If you have no catcher, there will be a lot of passed balls.” If the Red Sox were to play this afternoon, there would be a lot of base hits to center field for the same reason. Fact is, they ain’t got none. Ain’t got no (legitimate) leadoff hitter, either. For these and other reasons Johnny Damon was a must keep.

You get the drift. Now, I don’t want people to get the feeling that I don’t think Johnny Damon’s loss will hurt the Sox. It will. But as a baseball team, all you need to be is good in the aggregate. Whether that is with a fantastic centerfielder and a crummy second baseman like the 2005 Red Sox, or vice versa as it appears is possible for the 2006 Sox, it doesn’t much matter. There are a bunch of different ways to assemble a good baseball team. You think pitiching wins? Ask the 2003 Dodgers if pitching alone gets it done. You think you need a lead-off man? 2005’s World Series participants featured two of the very worst lead-off men in baseball in Scott Podsednik and Willy Taveras. How about a centerfielder? Is it imperative to have a top-notch centerfielder in order to be competitive? Of course not. Again, just look at Taveras or Bernie Williams, who both logged significant time in centerfield for playoff teams or conversely, David DeJesus of the Kansas City Royals, who had a very nice season for an abominable Royals team in 2005.

The point is obvious to anybody capable of putting together a rational thought but completely lost upon professionals compensated to understand these sorts of things. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and all you need to do is put together a 25-man roster that, in the aggregate, will allow you to stay competitive. Nothing that has taken place this off-season suggests that the Red Sox do not understand this.