MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — For the second straight year at their Winter Weekend, the Red Sox deflected questions about replacing David Ortiz with jokes about bringing the retired slugger back.

A year after Boston's effort to compensate for Ortiz's absence with Mitch Moreland and Chris Sale left them bereft of power, the Sox will entertain thousands of fans this weekend with the same squad that was knocked out of last year's Division Series by the eventual champion Astros. [...]

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. — For the second straight year at their Winter Weekend, the Red Sox deflected questions about replacing David Ortiz with jokes about bringing the retired slugger back.

A year after Boston's effort to compensate for Ortiz's absence with Mitch Moreland and Chris Sale left them bereft of power, the Sox will entertain thousands of fans this weekend with the same squad that was knocked out of last year's Division Series by the eventual champion Astros.

And as much as the Red Sox feign comfort with their current roster, they know, like everybody knows, that the Sox aren't presently on the same level as Houston or potentially the Yankees. The Sox have essentially admitted this over the last two days, with both chairman Tom Werner and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski talking about the anything-can-happen nature of the postseason as a means of closing the gap with a more talented team.

"I think we have an excellent team, but anything can happen in a short series," Werner said Friday night.

"When you get into the postseason, a lot of things can happen if you have a good club," Dombrowski had remarked about 24 hours earlier.

Dombrowski and Co. have beaten the drum of a 93-win team that should benefit from internal improvement. Yes, offered 2017's OPS as a barometer for each returning starter, one can probably comfortably take the over for Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Hanley Ramirez. It's not hard to imagine Andrew Benintendi taking a leap forward in his second full season or Rafael Devers' season-long presence creating a dramatic improvement at third base.

But one of the reasons why so many of those Red Sox were worse in 2017 than expected was the lack of a middle-of-the-order presence. Like the Dude's rug, a big bat in the middle of the lineup really ties it all together.

Red Sox players themselves recognized this last season. Bogaerts mentioned missing David Ortiz by late April: "We definitely miss him…. Having that 34 in the lineup was something opposing pitchers definitely were afraid of."

And Betts told WEEI.com in August that Ortiz's absence had affected his production: "[We] had David to kind of protect us [in 2016]. Now that's he not here, we don't have one big person to oversee everything. We just have to kind of collectively as a unit pick up where he left off."

Protection might not mean as much as you'd think, but having a consistent middle-of-the-order presence to occupy a pitcher's thoughts does have an impact. Just ask Pedro Martinez.

"Having the main guy in the middle of the lineup is critical because it forces the starting pitcher to actually attack most of the lineup and make sure that he keeps the front of the lineup away from the bases," Martinez said Friday night. "The main reason why Mookie and those guys miss him more is because they were getting better pitches to hit on an earlier count because of his presence."

"You always need a bat like that," Ortiz said. "A bat like that is never a waste."

Martinez interrupted him: "I was just talking to David, if we don't happen to get one of those big bats, I'm going to get [Ortiz] some lighter bats and make those shoes [for his comeback]."

Werner and Dombrowski know the value of that offensive presence, as well. Dombrowski prioritized the need for more offense from the start of the offseason. One day after Houston ended the Sox's season: "I didn't supply the players that would give us enough runs. We do need that."

Werner said Friday that the team was in "active negotiations" with J.D. Martinez — the free agent who best fits Boston's needs — but "it takes two to make a deal." Dombrowski added that "at some point, the ice will melt."

"Basically the simple formula is the players want more money than the clubs have been willing to offer," he said. "If you want to play, it's going to change, and I think it's going to change very quickly because we're so close to the start of the season."

"We're going to make some more moves this offseason," said Werner. "I'm not worried so much about where we are on January [19] as I am about where we are on April 1."

Right now, the jokes are just a retread from last year. The Red Sox hope the team isn't one, either.