Last season was one to forget for the Boston Red Sox, with their experiment of five aces failing miserably.

In fact, 2014 wasn’t the greatest year, either.

Third time’s the charm, right?

It’s been a difficult couple of years for Red Sox fans since the World Series win of 2013. The same magic wasn’t there the season after, and bringing on Rick Porcello, (left fielder) Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval didn’t work well in 2015.

Though it may be San Francisco’s year, since it’s an even-numbered season yet again, the Red Sox offer more hope headed into spring training than they have the past couple seasons.

However, I question some of Boston’s decisions.

First off, announcing Clay Buchholz as the No. 2 starter to begin the season. To be fair, Buchholz was looking like a potential ace last summer, working his ERA down to 3.26 by July. He has never been able to stay healthy, though. The most innings Buchholz has ever pitched in one season was 189.1, and that was back in 2012.

He was on pace for a remarkable season in 2013, starting 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA, before going down with an injury again. Buchholz would be better suited for the No. 3 role with Eduardo Rodriguez, coming back from a patella subluxation, being thrown into the fire at No. 2. You may not buy it, but you will when Rodriguez is forced into that role once Buchholz strains something else and is shut down for the year. The rotation should be David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, Clay Buchholz, Rick Porcello and Joe Kelly, in that order.

Ramirez has become a popular punching bag at first base, though the early results have been favorable. He’s handled ground balls and throws fairly well, but spring training is one thing; a 162-game season is another.

Granted, the Red Sox have limited options as to what they can do with Ramirez. Left field was an absolute catastrophe, and his work ethic appeared to suffer as a result. Clearly he can’t play the outfield and moving him anywhere else in the infield could be a laugher at this stage. So he’s either playing first base, designated hitter or riding pine.

Travis Shaw should get a go of it at first base because his small sample size in 2015 was promising. He hit .270 and slugged .487 with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs in just 65 games. By comparison, Ramirez, who played in 105 games, hit 19 home runs with 53 RBIs to go with a .249 average and .426 slugging percentage. A case can be made for playing Shaw at first in the long term if Ramirez struggles early and often. And if Shaw doesn’t work out, Sam Travis could be headed up from the minors sooner rather than later.

Then, though, you have an $88 million contract sitting on the bench. Ideally, Hanley will play DH once David Ortiz retires after this season, but how can Ramirez be motivated to do well at first if he knows it won’t be a long-term situation? Will he dog it for one more season before he just gets to hit every day?

At that point, of course, there is the dead horse of an issue that is Pablo Sandoval. Apparently, the Red Sox never gave him a weight goal, according to the Boston Globe, and everyone saw the photos of him when the team reported. Then, John Henry purported that Sandoval worked down to 17 percent body fat. Either I’ve gone blind or have something wrong with my eyes, but that doesn’t seem right.

The Red Sox bungled this big time if they never gave Sandoval a weight to which he could work himself down. He has already gotten booed twice at spring training, and if he can’t be agile at the hot corner, or productive at the plate, what’s the point? A much cheaper (and potentially better) option could be Brock Holt if Sandoval can’t get back to form.

Even with these issues I have with the decision-making, President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski radically changed this team’s makeup for the better in the offseason. The backend of the bullpen now features Carson Smith and Craig Kimbrel, in addition to Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara, which makes it much more formidable than it was in 2015. It’s no Yankees’ bullpen, but an argument could be made for second-best in the division.

Price was the signing of the summer, but ultimately I think the best starting pitching decision of the offseason was to stick with Joe Kelly as a starter. Kelly caught fire at the end of 2015, at one point winning eight starts in a row with a 2.72 ERA to boot after being demoted to Pawtucket earlier in the year. Kelly is a strong choice to round out the rotation and could see his trade value increase if the Red Sox are buyers at the deadline.

The Red Sox are once again one of the favorites to get to and win the World Series, but all the pieces will have to come together. If Ramirez and Sandoval flounder again and the starting pitching remains inconsistent, it could be another long season. If everything falls into place, though, Boston can undoubtedly get back to the top of an always fluctuating A.L. East.

All statistics and contract information courtesy of: baseball-reference.com, spotrac.com.