The Red Sox' only real shot at any postseason hardware faded into Bolivia (in the long-ago parlance of Mike Tyson) on Tuesday night, as Dustin Pedroia fell short in Gold Glove voting. The award for the top defensive second baseman in the American League (as voted by managers and coaches) instead went to Robinson Cano of the Yankees.

Pedroia was one of two "Red Sox finalists" in the 2012 voting; the other was Adrian Gonzalez, who was nominated as a top defensive AL first baseman for his glove work prior to the trade that sent him to the Dodgers. Another Yankee beat Gonzalez for the award, as Mark Teixeira earned his fourth career Gold Glove award.

A pair of Red Sox earned Gold Gloves, as Rangers star Adrian Beltre was recognized as the top defensive third baseman in the AL (his fourth Gold Glove), while outfielder Josh Reddick -- dealt to the A's last winter for closer Andrew Bailey -- claimed his first career Gold Glove.

Still, the award says little about how the Red Sox defense performed. More broadly, it's worth asking: How good is the Red Sox' defense?

That question, after all, should play a considerable role in the team's offseason planning. For as much as the team's pitching staff represented a considerable weakness, it's worth noting that teams that were renowned for bad defense transformed the fortunes of their franchises by making defensive overhauls a centerpiece of their offseason blueprints.

After the 2007 season, the Tampa Bay Rays identified defense as their biggest weakness. With a pitching staff that remained largely unchanged, they overhauled their defense considerably. The remake played an immense role -- at the time, one talent evaluator suggested that it could have represented a swing of 15 wins -- in vaulting the Rays into perennial contention that has yielded three playoff appearances (and five straight winning seasons) in the last five years. (More on that here.)

Likewise, after the Rangers featured a horrible defense in 2008 (worst in the majors in defensive efficiency -- meaning the percentage of balls in play converted into outs), they went all-in on improved defense in 2009. As a key component of that shift, the team installed Elvis Andrus as its everyday shortstop and moved Michael Young from short to third. That was the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but the result was striking, as the Rangers made the leap from 30th to sixth in the majors in defensive efficiency that year. Despite a nosedive from 901 to 784 runs, the team improved from 79-83 in 2008 to 87-75 in 2009. The team reached the World Series in 2010 (when it ranked fourth in defensive efficiency) and 2011 (second), and reached the playoffs but got bounced in the wild card round in 2012 (17th).

So: The Red Sox. It's worth looking at them over a longer stretch.

2007: .719 defensive efficiency, 3rd in majors, 96 wins (won the World Series)

2008: .711, 6th, 95 wins (reached ALCS)

2009: .691, 29th, 95 wins (reached ALDS)

2010: .708, 14th, 89 wins (missed playoffs)

2011: .715, 8th, 90 wins (missed playoffs)

2012: .703, 20th, 69 wins (really, really missed playoffs)

Defense isn't everything -- witness the 2012 Tigers, whose .693 defensive efficiency ranked 27th in the majors, yet did little to prevent Detroit from reaching the World Series -- and there are plenty of limitations with defensive efficiency (which shows the number of times a non-home run ball in play (so no strikeouts or walks) resulted in an out).

Still, it's worth noting that the best Red Sox teams of recent years -- the 2007 and 2008 clubs -- have been the best defensive clubs. (The 2009 team, obviously, succeeded despite its defensive limitations.) Moreover, the two true "surprise" teams of 2012 both enjoyed considerable improvements in defensive efficiency.

The A's went from 15th (.711) in 2011 to third (.721) in 2012, while the Orioles vaulted from 28th (.698) in 2011 to ninth (.715) in 2012. In recent years, the number of teams that have made considerable leaps forward from one year to the next have almost all featured drastic improvements in their defensive efficiency, something that reflects improvements in the pitching staff as well as the defensive skills of the position players.

So, again: What does that mean for the Red Sox? If the team does want to contend, given that the pitching staff is expected to remain fairly stable (Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront will all be back, and the Sox will feature a bullpen comprised chiefly of members of the 2012 team), improved defense is one way to achieve across-the-board improvement of a pitching staff that performed horribly in 2012.

Pedroia, obviously, isn't part of the problem. Will Middlebrooks showed tremendous range and excellent arm strength at third; while he was viewed as a league average defender (using the runs saved system employed by "The Fielding Bible"), he shows the potential to be  an above-average defensive third baseman. The team faces a challenge in its efforts to improve upon -- or even merely to match -- the defensive performances turned in at shortstop (where Mike Aviles graded statistically, both inside and outside the organization, as one of the best shortstops in the AL) and first base (where Gonzalez delivered terrific defense), though at the least, Jose Iglesias -- if he does end up getting the starting job, currently a wide-open question -- has the skills to give the Sox as good a shortstop as there is in the majors.

The outfield is the bigger area of concern and potential upgrade. The Sox saw Jacoby Ellsbury miss a half-season and struggle to match his exceptional work at the position in 2011. At the corners, Cody Ross seemed to struggle with the left-field wall while performing at a roughly league-average level in right (a position where the Sox had hoped to receive above-average defense from Ryan Sweeney); Carl Crawford barely had time to make a ripple in left; and Daniel Nava proved serviceable. (There were others, such as Scott Podsednik, Ryan Kalish, Darnell McDonald and others, but they didn't receive enough playing time to get a meaningful sample with which to evaluate their work.)

So, as the Sox enter an offseason with only, at most, one starting spot locked up (Ellsbury in center), it will be interesting to see whether the team prioritizes upgraded outfield defense in its effort to clean up the pitching mess of 2012.