The Red Sox front office has pledged to make smarter decisions, which has been widely construed as meaning their free-spending ways are over.

The Red Sox left a big void in their lineup when Adrian Gonzalez was dealt. Joe Mauer could fill that void. Bob DeChiara/US Presswire

There's a difference, though, between being smart and being cheap, and with the resources that the Red Sox have at their disposal, their fans are entitled to demand big, bold moves this winter. It's not enough merely to trumpet the coming wave of promising young players, like outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., infielder Xander Bogaerts and pitcher Matt Barnes. It's great to have a core of homegrown talent, and the Sox appear well on their way to creating one when the newcomers are added to Dustin Pedroia, Will Middlebrooks, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront, Jacoby Ellsbury (if he stays), Jose Iglesias and Ryan Lavarnway.

But there are holes on this roster that can only be filled from the outside, and while general manager Ben Cherington so far has been patching and filling with smaller moves, adding a backup catcher in David Ross and a platoon right-handed bat in Jonny Gomes, there is an obvious huge move the Sox should make that would be big, bold and smart, and recapture some of the enthusiasm eroded during last season's disaster.

When the Red Sox go to Nashville on Sunday for baseball's winter meetings, they should vow to return home with Joe Mauer as their new first baseman. Mike Napoli's visit to Boston last weekend suggests the Sox are considering lesser alternatives, but whatever reservations they have about making a long-term, expensive financial commitment to a player in the aftermath of the Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez signings, here's my suggestion: Get over it.

The Crawford deal came with red flags attached even before the ink was dry on the contract. Gonzalez hardly endeared himself to Bobby Valentine last season, and left with his reputation battered by whispers that he was an excuse-maker and succumbed too easily to pressure, but his numbers argue that he was hardly a bust. Maybe he wasn't the presence the Sox expected when they traded for him, but they sacrificed him in order to get out from under the Crawford and Josh Beckett deals.

Gonzalez's departure leaves a gaping hole in the middle of the Sox lineup, the kind of hole that in the American League East, especially, you fill not with complementary players but with stars. The right star. Josh Hamilton is not that guy. Wonderful talent, to be sure, but too many question marks.

Joe Mauer is that player. Five-time all-star, three-time batting champion, former MVP. He will be 30 years old in April, still in the prime of his career, and almost certainly receptive to making a position change from catcher to first base, to save on the physical pounding he has absorbed in nine seasons in the big leagues.

Last season, he caught only two more games (74) than he totaled at first base (30) and at DH (42). The Twins placed him on revocable waivers in late August as a trial balloon.