BOSTON -- For now, at least, let's take Pablo Sandoval at his words to ESPN last week that he is determined "to work hard to achieve more and to remain at the level of the player that I am and that I can be."

Swell. It's past time Sandoval gives the Boston Red Sox something to show for their $95 million.

But let's also not pretend that the return of the disgraced third baseman, even at his peak, would adequately replace retired DH David Ortiz.

Sandoval alone won't make up for the 48 doubles, 38 homers, majors-leading .620 slugging percentage and 1.021 OPS that Ortiz racked up in his walk-off season. Yet club officials are pinning the Red Sox's chances to remain baseball's highest-scoring team on the combination of a rousing revival from Sandoval and a full season of touted left fielder Andrew Benintendi.

What they are really counting on, though, is a beefed-up starting rotation to carry the Sox back to the postseason.

"In light of David's retirement, how were we going to improve our team?" manager John Farrell said. "We felt like pitching was the priority."

Especially with the Chicago White Sox making clear that they planned to trade ace lefty Chris Sale before the end of the winter meetings last week. Not only is Sale far less expensive ($38 million over the next three years) than the best available hitters -- no small detail given Red Sox ownership's preference to avoid going over the luxury-tax threshold for the third consecutive year -- but he also is a true difference-maker. Since 2013, he has been worth 21.5 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, third-best among pitchers behind Clayton Kershaw (29.8) and Max Scherzer (23.3).

So, after winning 93 games and the AL East last season by slugging opponents into submission, the Red Sox dove headfirst into the Sale derby and added him to co-aces David Price and Rick Porcello.

As president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski braces for life after Ortiz, his plan, quite clearly, is to win with pitching. As Farrell pointed out, only 15 pitchers threw at least 200 innings last season, and the Red Sox now have three of them in a super-rotation that rivals the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels) and 2015 Washington Nationals (Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann).

The Sox did make one move last week to aid the offense. But signing lefty-hitting Gold Glove first baseman Mitch Moreland to a one-year, $5.5 million contract accomplished little more than free up Hanley Ramirez to be the primary designated hitter, replace Travis Shaw (who was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for eighth-inning reliever Tyler Thornburg), and build a bridge to first-base prospect Sam Travis. Adding Moreland, a career .254 hitter with a .720 OPS, doesn't change the fact that Ortiz's numbers are still not accounted for.

"We still have a very good offensive team," Dombrowski said. "We led runs scored by 100 last year. I can't predict that everyone will have the same years. [Ortiz] is a big reason for that. But I think we still have a really good offensive team."

Just not as good as last season.

The Red Sox scored 878 runs in 2016, 101 more any other American League team, but got career-best years from several players, including young outfielders Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. Ortiz drove in 127 runs and scored 79, making him responsible for 23.46 percent of the offense.

Sandoval didn't contribute at all. After losing the third base job to Shaw in spring training, Sandoval went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in only two games and then had season-ending surgery on his left shoulder in May.

Last week, Sandoval admitted to ESPN that he got "complacent" after signing a five-year, $95 million contract with the Red Sox as a free agent in November 2014. He fell further out of shape than usual, and over the past two years, he lost mobility and range at third base, hit only 10 home runs, posted a .651 OPS and, in a low point, popped his belt while swinging a bat in an April game in Toronto.

Sandoval, only 30, was embarrassed by that and has vowed to slim down in an effort to resurrect his career. But even in the three seasons before he joined the Red Sox (2012-14), he averaged only 14 homers, 72 RBIs and a .759 OPS per year for the San Francisco Giants and was never valued by FanGraphs at more than 2.9 WAR.

In other words, a normal season from Sandoval represents only slightly more than half of Ortiz's 2016.

"Not to put it all on him," Farrell said of Sandoval, "but here’s a left-handed bat who is a proven guy and has every opportunity to make a major impact on our team this year."

Not buying it? At least the Red Sox traded for Sale, who offers a better chance than Sandoval to ensure their success in a post-Ortiz world, even if it means changing the way they win.