Welcome to Boston, Daniel Nava

[Yaz Sideburn]

in his first 80 at bats, he's hitting .300/.371/.488. as far as i'm concerned, ellsbury can take his time because nava's providing much better production than ells would be

[Palodios]

I honestly think that at this point, he's far more valuable on the Sox than as a trade chip. The only expectation of him right now is to decline, but if he's going to be as consistent as they want trading teams to believe he is, why not keep him around?

[Yaz Sideburn]

i wouldn't trade him. he'll probably decline, but his production's probably going to be much better than hermida's and at a fraction of the cost

[Dojji]

A switch hitting guy who can bat .300 and play both corners is useful, especially if he hits his share of line drive doubles. And if that doubles power ever matures into a line drive HR swing (see Youkilis, Kevin) look out.

[Dipre]

89 PA's and 80 AB's in the Majors is not enough of a sample size to label a guy a .300 hitter in the Major Leagues, specially if he has a .415 BABIP, which is unsustainable .

 

Now don't get me wrong, i like the kid, but let's be real here. You can use his minor league stats for reference if you want, but AA =/= MLB.

[Palodios]

I don't know a whole lot about how developing prospects work, but I went back and looked at the AAA stats of Ellsbury, Youk, Pedroia etc and it seems like all their stats end up being similar to what they are in the MLB. Not to say that its an instant thing, but from the players I've looked at there is a clear trend. If a player is good enough, they'll adjust to the competition and eventually play the same way they did in AAA and other minor leagues.

 

Nava has developed enough skill wise, and physically. He was killing the ball in AA, but the only real factor anyone could have against him right now is that he didn't have a ton of time in AAA. He's a switch hitter, he's surrounded by a tough lineup and he is getting his chance to prove himself. If we set an over-under on .780 OPS, I'd pick the over.

[mvp 78]

His ceiling in Boston would be as a 4th outfielder. If you can get a solid reliever for him (wouldn't happen, but maybe you get someone on a day when they drank too much cough syrup) you do it without thinking twice.

[Dojji]

I disagree with you. Nava has shown strong offensive ability and he's obviously still adjusting to big league ball. Prejudging his ceiling is a mistake that a lot of people have made already and he's gone through the minors proving them all wrong.

 

Any guy who can get the bat on the ball and deliver the kind of quality contact Nava has provided so far could start for a team. He wouldn't be Plan A in Boston, especially not at first, but if he gets another long chance next year and does the same thing only with more power -- well, let's just say I can see a couple scenarios where Nava could Youkilis his way into a starting role no one originally planned on him earning.

 

I see him very much like a baseball version of Tim Thomas -- talented but unorthodox and somewhat offputting and waiting for a chance to prove everyone who ever underestimated him wrong. All that remains to be seen is if he has the talent to make it happen, and for right now the signs are pretty good. So instead of clapping an arbitrary limit on a guy who's made a career of defying type I'd rather just enjoy the show. Because I think it'll be enjoyable.