"Idiot"-free Red Sox: a smart move?

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It didn't take Mike Lowell long to realize things were going to be different with the Red Sox.

"I figured that out when 3,000 people turned out to watch us stretch on the first day," said Lowell, Boston's new third baseman.

However, Lowell's observation was challenged by another new Red Sox player.

"It was more like 5,000," corrected Mark Loretta.

The passion for the Red Sox by their fans is undiminished. Last year's first-round playoff ouster by the White Sox in a three-game sweep just made them hungrier. It's been one long year, after all, since they tasted a championship.

What has changed is, well, just about everything else.

They have an entirely new infield (Kevin Youkilis and J.T. Snow at first, Loretta at second, Alex Gonzalez at shortstop and Lowell at third), a new center fielder (Coco Crisp) and a new power arm in the rotation (Josh Beckett).

They have a "new" general manager, Theo Epstein, who returned to his post in late January after the three-month ordeal that followed his resignation in November.

The emerging tales of the power struggle between Epstein and CEO Larry Lucchino, intertwined with the ongoing intrigue over Manny Ramirez's trade demands and Johnny Damon's free agency, cemented the Red Sox's status as the New England Zoo. These days, in fact, they make the travails of their Bronx rivals look like a petting zoo.

"I've become accustomed to it," pitcher Bronson Arroyo said with a laugh. "It's always a soap opera around here, no matter what. If there's not a soap opera going on, it's not Boston."

Epstein, who was replaced temporarily by his once-and-future underlings, Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer, Thursday referred to the numerous winter plot lines as "sound and fury, signifying nothing."

The biggest change in the Red Sox, however, involves who's not there. Damon, who defected to the hated Yankees. Kevin Millar, lead clubhouse instigator, now in Baltimore. Bill Mueller, another key member of the 2004 title team, signed with the Dodgers.

In fact, just 10 players remain from the miracle of '04. The burning question in camp is whether the departures have altered the unique personality that made the Red Sox so compelling — and so successful — in recent years.

"I haven't noticed any idiots here," said Loretta, cutting to the chase. "I mean that in a good way."

The Idiots — with a capital "I" — came to define the raucous spirit of the Red Sox, but they've been replaced by staid professionals like Lowell, Snow and Loretta.

"We are a little more reserved," Loretta said. "We just kind of go about our job in a quiet way."

Will it matter? Not a bit, said Epstein, who believes the question of the team's search for a new identity is an overblown spring-training story.

"I don't think, come June, they're going to be talking about our personality," he said. "They're going to be talking about how many games up in first place, or behind in second place, we are."

But Arroyo, who spent the winter reading rumors about his impending trade to Seattle for Jeremy Reed, believes the disbanding of "The Idiots" is going to be felt deeply.

"There's definitely going to be a different chemistry, a different personality, to this team this year," Arroyo said.

"There's just too many factors that have been taken out — Kevin Millar, who's the No. 1 guy; your Johnny Damons, Billy Muellers, Doug Mirabellis. And over the last few years, Derek Lowe, Curtis Leskanic. All these guys were characters."

Characters with character. Arroyo believes the makeup of the team is what allowed it to overcome a three-games-to-none deficit against the Yankees in 2004, a feeling shared by, among others, manager Terry Francona.

"Without us being so close-knit, that would have been impossible," Arroyo said. "We're going to have to find a different niche, man.

"It's funny — when you're playing baseball, if you don't know your teammates, it's hard to pull for them 100 percent. But when you go through the trenches with these guys year after year, you become like a family."

The reconstructed Red Sox should still contend for their fourth straight playoff berth. Much will depend on the health of two pitchers — Curt Schilling, still trying to come back from the ankle injury he patched together to take the mound in the World Series, and closer Keith Foulke, who had knee surgery in October.

The lineup still has two of the biggest thumpers in baseball, Ramirez and David Ortiz, though Ramirez's desire to be traded remains an ongoing issue, as does the similar desire of pitcher David Wells.

Epstein, of course, likes the Red Sox's changes, many of which were executed during his absence (though some suspect he was calling the shots from the shadows all along).

"We have a very high upside if everything comes together, if guys battling injuries stay healthy, if guys coming off down years bounce back," he said. "Inherent in that will be more question marks than we usually have."

In Epstein's best-case scenario, it will be another fabulous, frantic year at Fenway. But if those answers come back like Vince Young's Wonderlic, and a cohesive personality never emerges, then the Red Sox and their brain trust could end up looking like, well, idiots.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com