In Victor Martinez, you have an RBI machine. After having a guy like Manny Ramirez in Boston for years who thrived with men on base, Victor will fill the void that Manny left when he was traded to the Dodgers last year.

Playing with Victor in Cleveland in 2004 and again in 2006, I saw a very similar approach to Manny’s, and he was at his best when men were on base. His work ethic is also like Manny’s as far as he’s in the batting cage often and always watching game film. When I first played with him, he was still getting his feet wet. It’s tough to be a young catcher with everyone expecting you to be the leader of a team, not to mention the fact that you’re a rookie. So he was quiet at first and just professionally went about his business. After some initial struggles, he soon went on a tear and it was Dustin Pedroia-esque. It wasn’t just one hit a night – it was two, it was three, sometimes it was a five-hit night. He’s the kind of guy who, when he gets hot, you just can’t get him out. It’s fun to watch. He’s one of the best pure hitters in the game, and one of the top offensive catchers in the game, but it bears repeating: when guys are on base he drives them in.

He’s a great addition to this lineup and a very hard worker. He doesn’t have the strongest arm, and I actually think Jason Varitek throws better to second. But the biggest question remains: how will he be as a catcher in this organization, especially considering Varitek has been a valuable asset in dealing with the pitching staff? How quickly can Victor adjust to being a catcher with this team, and how comfortable will pitchers feel with him behind the plate? It will be especially interesting to see how this affects Josh Beckett and Jon Lester.

That leaves us with the underlying issue to an otherwise excellent trade: where does Martinez play with this ballclub?

For the time being, the plan is to give Mike Lowell some days off every week with him coming off the DL following hip injuries, and Tito’s done a good job with that. But will one or two days a week turn into three or four? That’s certainly a possibility. Having Victor catch will probably be the team’s best offensive lineup because you get a healthy Lowell at third, David Ortiz in the DH spot, and Victor catching.

But like I said, Varitek is very comfortable with this pitching staff (particularly the big two) and I’m not so sure you want to take him out of this lineup come Game 1 or Game 2 in the first round of the playoffs. So that’s going to be the challenge for Tito. You can see Victor playing a bit as a DH because he’s a switch hitter and can play against the lefties, but I think the bulk of his work will be replacing Mike Lowell in this lineup.

Although getting Victor was a great move, I’m still not so sure how I feel about this team post-deadline.

They’ve added a bat and some insurance for Mike Lowell in case there are some injuries down the road, and it’s still a great lineup. But I think this weekend, following the passing of the deadline, we saw John Smoltz struggle, we saw Clay Buchholz struggle, and Brad Penny’s last outing wasn’t his best either. So this highlights the point that we’re not so sure about this pitching staff.

The other day, the team gave up Justin Masterson to get Victor, and you always have to give up someone good to get someone good. But on Sunday with Buchholz struggling in the fourth inning and Manny Delcarmen up in the bullpen, you have to wonder how this team can get through the game. They had the luxury of having Monday off, but starting Tuesday the team will have to play 25 games in 26 days. Currently with six men in the bullpen, the team will have to go out and add yet another arm because a bunch of those guys are struggling to get to the sixth inning.

We also can’t forget about Daisuke. He’s having spring training all over again, and I think deservingly so. I don’t think he came into the season conditioned properly, ready to go through the grind of a six-month season. He also used up all of his bullets in the World Baseball Classic. I know there’s a lot of stuff that’s been going on in the papers, and he’s sitting in the doghouse right now as far as the organization goes, but I don’t see any reason why he can’t come back and still give them some quality starts in September. Let’s face it: his arm’s going to be fresh and for the last two months he’s been doing nothing but conditioning. His arm’s stronger and his body’s in better shape, so I expect him to come back right before the playoffs and give some good innings.

There are also glaring needs in the outfield. The fourth outfielder is Rocco Baldelli who can possibly only play once every third or fourth day. Is Josh Reddick the answer? I’m not sure that he is. They might need to go out and get a fourth outfielder off waivers.

This also brings up the issue with another position – shortstop. With Jed Lowrie a few weeks removed from his stint on the DL, he hasn’t yet proven himself as the everyday shortstop moving forward and into the playoffs. Nick Green was playing great defensively at the position for a couple months, but three quick errors later you wonder if they have enough defensively.

The Sox will explore the waivers, but the wavier period will be guys with high-priced salaries that teams are looking to dump. One guy who I loved about two weeks ago coming into this trade deadline was Josh Willingham of the Washington Nationals. He’s a great young player, a solid right-handed bat, a high on-base percentage guy, and I thought he would be a perfect fit for this club. If anything happened to Rocco, he could fill that void. It’s nothing against Rocco, who’s been having a solid season, but the team needs a right fielder who can play more often than Rocco.

They could also use a Paul Byrd type of guy, a solid pitcher who can go out and eat up some innings. A bunch of their pitchers are only lasting five innings per game, and I’m not sure how long they can stick with that.

So as great as the Victor Martinez pickup was at the trade deadline, I still have a lot of questions about the roster and I don’t think that Theo’s done. They’ve done this a lot in the past where they’ve gone out and gotten guys off waivers to solidify the team, and I completely expect them to do the same this year.