8/19 @ Royals

[Station 13]

Why do you say that? I don't watch or read much at all about the farm leagues. What about him makes you think he can hit 30HR?

Will Wakefield get his 200th win? I hope so. And Gonzo will get back into first place for RBIs, too! Go Sox

Lavarnway has hit at every level in the minors, for average and power.

[Palodios]

Yeah, I'll jump on that bandwagon. Anybody know how Lavarnaway looks behind the dish? Maybe Salty/Lavarnaway could be our catchers next year. Move one onto DH to give Ortiz an occasional blow. Could work.

Check the first Lavarnway thread, there is been some debate on his defense.

http://www.talksox.com/forum/red-sox...eal-close.html

[Station 13]

Well, they lucked out with a quality start from Miller--and a quality relief job from Aceves--the only reliable reliever they have outside of Pap and Bard. They sign all these new bullpen guys in the off-season, and none of them are any good except Aceves. Sooner or later, they'll blow him out if they overpitch him.

Have you forgotten Albers?

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Wheeler I wouldn't say is reliable but he's getting much much better.

[Palodios]

Have you forgotten Albers?

Don't bother with Soxsport, he never knows what he's talking about, and even if you completely reject the argument he makes with stone cold facts, he'll regurgitate it in the next thread. Kind of like me, except with fewer posts.

[a700hitter]

Yeah, I'll jump on that bandwagon. Anybody know how Lavarnaway looks behind the dish? Maybe Salty/Lavarnaway could be our catchers next year. Move one onto DH to give Ortiz an occasional blow. Could work.

I heard that he is terrible behind the plate.

[Dojji]

I heard that he is terrible behind the plate.

He isn't great, he isn't terrible. His mechanics aren't wonderful and he doesn't look like a natural catcher, , but he gets the job done, got a good, strong accurate arm and his "pop time" is big league average. He's also been working very hard to improve, and has shown significant progress recently.

Where he's gonna struggle is in the thinking aspects of catching, simply because he hasn't done them as long. Pitchcalling, setting the D, he'll have some trouble blocking big league breaking pitches, that's par for the course since as a catcher he's very raw. That said, his issue is lack of reps and experience. The tools are fine. This is definitely a guy who COULD LEARN to be a very good catcher. It's just that it'll take him a few years to get there.

[a700hitter]

He isn't great, he isn't terrible. His mechanics aren't wonderful and he doesn't look like a natural catcher, , but he gets the job done, got a good, strong accurate arm and his "pop time" is big league average. He's also been working very hard to improve, and has shown significant progress recently.

Where he's gonna struggle is in the thinking aspects of catching, simply because he hasn't done them as long. Pitchcalling, setting the D, he'll have some trouble blocking big league breaking pitches, that's par for the course since as a catcher he's very raw. That said, his issue is lack of reps and experience. The tools are fine. This is definitely a guy who COULD LEARN to be a very good catcher. It's just that it'll take him a few years to get there.

I heard on NESN that Francona said in Spring Training that Lavarnway had a long way to go in his defensive development.