If the Red Sox were going to win in 2014, they were going to need another productive year from Shane Victorino, Napoli, etc., but they also believed there'd be a natural evolution with Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Will Middlebrooks and other young players shouldering more of the load.
And that experiment didn't work: The Red Sox lost 91 games last season and finished 25 games behind the first-place Orioles in the American League East.