FORT MYERS, Fla. – Even before the offseason acquisition of young Japanese ace Daisuke Matsuzaka, there was a lot of excitement about the Red Sox rotation.

Curt Schilling was back after a 15-7 season in which his ERA was 3.97, fellow veteran pitcher Tim Wakefield returned with his unique knuckleballing magic, hard-throwing righthander Josh Beckett was coming off a 16-win season and young flamethrower Jonathan Papelbon would be bringing his considerable stuff to a starter’s role after closing.

Many feel Beckett, who had a lofty 5.01 ERA, will improve after getting used to the tougher American League lineups.

The fact that 2004 free agent signee Matt Clement, versatile long reliever Julian Tavarez and rookie lefthander Jon Lester would also be in the mix made Boston’s rotation deep and competitive.

So far, even with lingering injury issues from last season (Papelbon, Lester, Wakefield, Clement), Boston manager Terry Francona has seen nothing to diminish the optimism he has regarding his starting staff.

“I’ve been optimistic about our starting rotation all winter,” Francona said. “They don’t have to throw four shutout innings on March 11 for us to be optimistic.

“Guys are gonna run into spring training with dead arms, dead legs… uh, bad day to pitch or not feeling good or whatever. If they’re good pitchers, 35 major league starts will tell you more than four innings of spring training, but I think we have a legitimate reason to be optimistic about our starting rotation.”

As much as Francona disregards early spring training statistics, they bear out his optimism.

Through Sunday’s games, Boston had the fourth lowest team ERA among American League clubs with a 4.24 ERA in the spring. Its five projected starters – Becket, Matsuzaka, Papelbon, Schilling and Wakefield – combined to post a 2.18 ERA in “A games” during that span. Those are non-exhibition, non-intrasquad, non-collegiate games against other major league clubs.

How does team captain and starting catcher Jason Varitek see the starting staff?

“It’s early still, but I hope we get more extended innings out of our starters before we get into the bullpen. We’ve still got a long way to go with it,” said Varitek. “We still have a lot of things to iron out and get through before the season starts.”

Varitek admitted even he still has a lot of things to figure out, along with the pitchers.

“Everything’s like a stepping stone,” he explained. “Each little step from bullpens to live BP to spring training games and then real games when it all counts. That’s when you figure out things the most.”

In three starts each by Schilling and Wakefield (including Monday night), two each for Beckett and Matsuzaka and two relief appearances by Papelbon, the starters have allowed 12 earned runs in 37 innings for a 2.92 ERA.

“I think we have the best rotation in the major leagues,” said Wakefield matter-of-factly. “I think we stack up as well as anyone, certainly in the American League.”

The 40-year-old Wakefield pitched four innings against the Yankees Monday night, allowing four runs (all earned) and eight hits. He had one strikeout and no walks in the 7-5 Red Sox victory.