The opening-day roster will feature 10 new faces who should provide more offensive punch.

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – The youngest general manager in baseball rushed to revamp a team that last won a World Series 55 years before he was born. Now Theo Epstein finds out how well his moves will work.

In just four months, he shook up a Boston Red Sox team that won 93 games last year but once again failed to catch the New York Yankees in the American League East. The opening-day roster should have 10 new faces – and much more offensive punch.

The 29-year-old Epstein failed to land pitchers high-profile Bartolo Colon and Jose Contreras. But he added several veteran hitters, including Kevin Millar, Jeremy Giambi and David Ortiz.

There may be a logjam at first and third bases and some questionable fielding on the right side of the infield. But if spring training is any indication, the Red Sox will launch plenty of balls over and off Fenway Park’s oddly configured walls.

The newcomers will complement a trio of hitters in the middle of the order – Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez and Shea Hillenbrand – that has the potential to be as good as any in baseball. Hillenbrand reacted to reports that he was trade bait with an outstanding spring.

“We certainly are going to be able to hit,” said Todd Walker, another off-season pickup who hit .299 for Cincinnati last season.

By many measures, 2002 was a good season. The Red Sox had the second- and third-place finishers in the AL Cy Young award balloting (Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe), a batting champion (Ramirez) for the third time in four years and a 101-run, 120-RBI man (Garciaparra). And there were those 93 wins.

But in Boston, other numbers stand out – 1918, when the Red Sox last won a World Series, and five, their streak of second-place finishes. And all those second-place finishes were behind the Yankees.

So it’s hardly surprising Red Sox fans are still preoccupied with the question marks. Will manager Grady Little’s lineup shuffling prove a distraction? Does this team have enough pitching to make the playoffs?

Little used 118 lineup combinations last year and says the players know what they’re in for. He may use even more this season now that he has greater depth. But he won’t use the term “platooning.”

Lineup decisions will depend on more than whether the opposing starter is left- or right-handed (Giambi, for instance, is a left-hander who hits lefties well).

Ortiz, Millar and Giambi will likely share duties at first base and designated hitter. Third baseman Hillenbrand also can play first, giving Millar or newcomer Bill Mueller time at third.

The other positions should be the same as last season: Garciaparra at shortstop, Jason Varitek at catcher, and Ramirez, Johnny Damon and Trot Nixon in the outfield. Little hopes Walker will bring stability to second, a position where Boston has had 10 opening-day starters in as many years. But he’s not as good a fielder as Rey Sanchez, who played there last year.

The pitching seems strong.

Martinez has enjoyed his healthiest spring in years and Tim Wakefield, his starting job at last assured, his best. Derek Lowe has been inconsistent and some wonder whether his 21-8 season last year was a fluke. But opposing hitters still say he has one of the nastiest sinkerballs in the game.

The unknown is how many wins Boston can expect from its fourth and fifth starters. John Burkett is a proven winner but is 38. Casey Fossum, whom Epstein liked so much he refused to include him in a possible deal for Colon, struggled all spring.

The bullpen should be better. The Red Sox picked up Ramiro Mendoza from the Yankees and Chad Fox from Milwaukee. Former Philadelphia starter Robert Person is still building strength after shoulder surgery but could be a long reliever or a fill-in starter. Closing will be by committee, though Alan Embree could take over that role.

“We feel like we’ve got a chance to score a lot of runs,” Little said. “The biggest thing you can expect from the team this year, when we do score those runs we’re going to be able to hold that lead through the seventh, eighth and ninth innings much better than last year.”

Boston fans are cautious, having grown wary of teams that “look good on paper.” That was the case each of the past three springs, but the Red Sox got dragged down by injuries (2000), clubhouse bickering (2001) or an inability to win close games (2002).

There’s also a sense Boston’s window of opportunity may soon close. The club has options on Garciaparra and Martinez only through 2004. With Ramirez signed to an eight-year, $160 million contract, it’s hard to imagine Boston could keep all its stars aligned much longer.

Whether it’s the naive idealism of a Red Sox newcomer or the valuable words of an experienced player, Millar, who is both, insists the team can succeed.

“Every team says something about the World Series, but I tell you what, this team right here has the makeup and the nucleus to win,” he said. “Chemistry on a baseball team is something you can’t buy, and for some reason this team has it. I walked in this clubhouse three days and I felt like I’d been here 10 years.”

AP-ES-03-26-03 1448EST