Should Kalish make the team next year?

[Spitball]

The Sox will come north with Ellsbury, Victorino, and Gomes for certain. It will be important that the number four (and possibly five) guy can play more than one spot because Gomes is only a left fielder or dh. Kalish can play all three spots in my opinion...at least on a temporary basis.

[Lucienbel]

The Sox will come north with Ellsbury, Victorino, and Gomes for certain. It will be important that the number four (and possibly five) guy can play more than one spot because Gomes is only a left fielder or dh. Kalish can play all three spots in my opinion...at least on a temporary basis.

 

I'd agree. He hasn't shown his bat in a while, but if he has to fill in for a while if someone goes down he's a good option as of right now. It'll be interesting to see if he gets a shot at a platoon with Gomes.... I thought Gomes platooning was sort of the idea by signing him but I guess we'll see with that.

[rjortiz]

I voted for the third option, then I saw the date of the first post.

 

Man, that would have been a sweet trade for us.

[SoxSport]

Heck, of course they should run with him. But he has to return to his 2010 form to compete for an OF spot. The OF situation is still fluid for he and Nava, especially when you consider Ellsbury has a good chance of being traded by midseason. He certainly isn't going to be re-signed.One thing that would hasten Ells' departure is if Kalish shows something in ST.

[jung]

I wonder if the Sox do not believe Kalish's shoulder should have been an issue last season. He has been injured forever and the Sox have accepted that and continued to support him. Then last season rolls around. He does not play that well saying nothing about the shoulder until the very end of the season. Suddenly he is dog meat, worthy only of a platoon role in left when he seemed to be destined for RF where his talents could be best used.

 

Something just does not wash but you just cannot trust anything they do these days as they are just as likely to zig as zag. How do you trust the player with so much money at stake? Guess we will just have to wait and see. I would not be surprised if at this point even a decent ST showing might not earn him much in the eyes of the FO. He will very likely have to take advantage of every opportunity he gets to play or else. Wouldn't it be a laugh if both he and Riddick ended up successful in organizations other than the Sox?

[mvp 78]

Well, being "worthy of a platoon" is actually a step up from where they had him last year (AAA).

[onlybereaved]

I wonder if the Sox do not believe Kalish's shoulder should have been an issue last season. He has been injured forever and the Sox have accepted that and continued to support him. Then last season rolls around. He does not play that well saying nothing about the shoulder until the very end of the season. Suddenly he is dog meat, worthy only of a platoon role in left when he seemed to be destined for RF where his talents could be best used.

 

Something just does not wash but you just cannot trust anything they do these days as they are just as likely to zig as zag. How do you trust the player with so much money at stake? Guess we will just have to wait and see. I would not be surprised if at this point even a decent ST showing might not earn him much in the eyes of the FO. He will very likely have to take advantage of every opportunity he gets to play or else. Wouldn't it be a laugh if both he and Riddick ended up successful in organizations other than the Sox?

 

Word, I totally see Kalish being a Reddick caliber in the next couple of seasons, of course if given the right atmosphere/opportunity. Let's just hope he plays really well any/every chance he gets. I like the guy. He certainly has the Reddick potential, I doubt anyone would question or argue that.

[Behindenemylines]

Hopefully, Kalish is finally healthy. If he continues to struggle with health issues then he may lose his chance to make it in Boston. Just like Iglesias is running out of time, I feel Kalish could be in that same boat. I always saw him as a Trot Nixon type of a player. Won't hurt you with the bat, has a good glove, and will play hard every day. At some point a player has to prove they can stay healthy and be productive. I think his time is running out. If he doesn't have a good spring I can see him being passed by Brentz on the depth chart.

[seabeachfred]

Hopefully, Kalish is finally healthy. If he continues to struggle with health issues then he may lose his chance to make it in Boston. Just like Iglesias is running out of time, I feel Kalish could be in that same boat. I always saw him as a Trot Nixon type of a player. Won't hurt you with the bat, has a good glove, and will play hard every day. At some point a player has to prove they can stay healthy and be productive. I think his time is running out. If he doesn't have a good spring I can see him being passed by Brentz on the depth chart.

 

Just like last season when the front office's inept handling of Bard pretty much ruined him for the year and maybe permanently (which is what I think), they did the same to Ryan Kalish before the 2011 season. He had proven himself well after he was brought up and installed in CF; hit well, fielded well, ran the bases with aplomb. So what happened before t he 2011 season? They decided to send him down "for some more f***ing seasoning" and kept super underachiever J.D. Drew who was only an ingrown hair from going on the DL, not to mention another lousy year. It happened, and when they called for Kalish he was already banged up and out of action at Pawtucket. Had he been in Boston where he belonged he might not have gotten hurt, just as Ellsbury wouldnt have been in 2010 had he been in CF instead of left to "save his legs", and Bard would have been had they not tried to make him a starting pitcher, a role he was totally unequipped for.

 

And some of you out there wonder why I'm not negative and down on our front office. They have turned out to be one inept clusterf*** of an organization the last few years making one miserable decision after another. I hope Kalish is finally healthy and get a good chance to show what he can do this season. It may be his last chance w ith this organization, through no fault of his own.

[seabeachfred]

Hopefully, Kalish is finally healthy. If he continues to struggle with health issues then he may lose his chance to make it in Boston. Just like Iglesias is running out of time, I feel Kalish could be in that same boat. I always saw him as a Trot Nixon type of a player. Won't hurt you with the bat, has a good glove, and will play hard every day. At some point a player has to prove they can stay healthy and be productive. I think his time is running out. If he doesn't have a good spring I can see him being passed by Brentz on the depth chart.

 

Just like last season when the front office's inept handling of Bard pretty much ruined him for the year and maybe permanently (which is what I think), they did the same to Ryan Kalish before the 2011 season. He had proven himself well after he was brought up and installed in CF; hit well, fielded well, ran the bases with aplomb. So what happened before t he 2011 season? They decided to send him down "for some more f***ing seasoning" and kept super underachiever J.D. Drew who was only an ingrown hair from going on the DL, not to mention another lousy year. It happened, and when they called for Kalish he was already banged up and out of action at Pawtucket. Had he been in Boston where he belonged he might not have gotten hurt, just as Ellsbury wouldnt have been in 2010 had he been in CF instead of left to "save his legs", and Bard would have been had they not tried to make him a starting pitcher, a role he was totally unequipped for.

 

And some of you out there wonder why I'm not negative and down on our front office. They have turned out to be one inept clusterf*** of an organization the last few years making one miserable decision after another. I hope Kalish is finally healthy and get a good chance to show what he can do this season. It may be his last chance w ith this organization, through no fault of his own.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Just like last season when the front office's inept handling of Bard pretty much ruined him for the year and maybe permanently (which is what I think), they did the same to Ryan Kalish before the 2011 season. He had proven himself well after he was brought up and installed in CF; hit well, fielded well, ran the bases with aplomb. So what happened before t he 2011 season? They decided to send him down "for some more f***ing seasoning" and kept super underachiever J.D. Drew who was only an ingrown hair from going on the DL, not to mention another lousy year. It happened, and when they called for Kalish he was already banged up and out of action at Pawtucket. Had he been in Boston where he belonged he might not have gotten hurt, just as Ellsbury wouldnt have been in 2010 had he been in CF instead of left to "save his legs", and Bard would have been had they not tried to make him a starting pitcher, a role he was totally unequipped for.

 

And some of you out there wonder why I'm not negative and down on our front office. They have turned out to be one inept clusterf*** of an organization the last few years making one miserable decision after another. I hope Kalish is finally healthy and get a good chance to show what he can do this season. It may be his last chance w ith this organization, through no fault of his own.

 

You have to be kidding me. You're blaming the Red Sox management for Kalish getting injured in the minors and for playing Ellsbury in LF? Newsflash, being in the majors doesn't protect players from injuries and neither does CF over LF.

[jung]

There has been the general feeling expressed on these pages that moving Ells to LF exposed him to freight train, Beltre. In Center he would have seen an outfield wall, another outfielder or a middle infielder as opposed to brick wall Beltre. Its a bit of a stretch. I would not have wanted to run into Manny as a LFer if I were playing CF either. The dif there though is that as the CF, Ells could have called Manny off any ball.

 

The chance of contact between a 3rd baseman and a LFer is much greater as there are more plays that end up being tweeners with neither guy in a position necessarily to give up on the ball.

 

Aviles is kinda' big in the upper body for a guy playing SS. He almost ran over WMB and Nava in one play last year as he was totally hell bent on getting to a ball on a really long run. Nava and WMB saved the day as those two guys pulled up. You could tell at the end of the play when Aviles looked around finally that he had no idea how close he had been to a gigantic wreck out there in short to medium LF. WMB might have bounced off Aviles although I doubt it. They would have had to bring a grave marker out there for Nava and stuck it in LF like one of those eerie and unfortunate white crosses you sometimes see on the side of the highway.

[Rdsxmbnt]

There has been the general feeling expressed on these pages that moving Ells to LF exposed him to freight train, Beltre. In Center he would have seen an outfield wall, another outfielder or a middle infielder as opposed to brick wall Beltre. Its a bit of a stretch. I would not have wanted to run into Manny as a LFer if I were playing CF either. The dif there though is that as the CF, Ells could have called Manny off any ball.

 

The chance of contact between a 3rd baseman and a LFer is much greater as there are more plays that end up being tweeners with neither guy in a position necessarily to give up on the ball.

 

Aviles is kinda' big in the upper body for a guy playing SS. He almost ran over WMB and Nava in one play last year as he was totally hell bent on getting to a ball on a really long run. Nava and WMB saved the day as those two guys pulled up. You could tell at the end of the play when Aviles looked around finally that he had no idea how close he had been to a gigantic wreck out there in short to medium LF. WMB might have bounced off Aviles although I doubt it. They would have had to bring a grave marker out there for Nava and stuck it in LF like one of those eerie and unfortunate white crosses you sometimes see on the side of the highway.

 

There were over 30,000+ innings played by LFs in baseball last year. How many of them ended in a season ending collision for the OF? It was a freak accident not a careless oversight by the management

[jung]

It is as I said a stretch. If anything it is the manager's decision, not the FO. I don't remember anybody mentioning the possibility of injury to Ells before it happened and that is usually one of the things I will look at to see if an argument might be legit. If you are concerned about it and it happens well then you at least have a legit argument at that point.

 

I think if there is a point it might be that Ells does not win or even break even in these battles with other players, a wall, what have you. He does seem to be a little brittle in hindsight. Still and all, I don't think you could then extend that to a greater injury risk in LF.

[example1]

There were over 30,000+ innings played by LFs in baseball last year. How many of them ended in a season ending collision for the OF? It was a freak accident not a careless oversight by the management

 

It was absolutely a completely random accident, not something that can be predicted. If anyone here can find a single post on this site (or any other for that matter) saying that moving Ellsbury to LF was a bad idea because Beltre might run into him, I will absolutely take it back. People may have said moving him to LF wasn't a good idea, but it had nothing to do with Beltre.

[jung]

I don't remember any either E1. There were some posts of that sort after the accident but I do not remember anybody suggesting that it might be an issue before it happened.

 

Sort of reminds me of the Gronk, field goal team injury. Nobody complained about Gronk playing on special teams until after he was injured either and then of course it was the worst idea anybody ever had.

[seabeachfred]

You have to be kidding me. You're blaming the Red Sox management for Kalish getting injured in the minors and for playing Ellsbury in LF? Newsflash, being in the majors doesn't protect players from injuries and neither does CF over LF.

 

Kidding you? I thin it would be a great idea for you to come out from the cold and see the events as they played out. The fact IS I AM BLAMING THE RED SOX FRONT OFFICE FOR THESE SCREWUPS.....every one of them. Kalish? He could have been our RF in 2011 but the FO went with Drew and his bloated salary, fully knowing that he was injury prone, a whiner and candy ass who most likely would be on the shelf very soon....as he usually was. And he was!!!!! Kalish, however, had been hurt down at Pawtcket where he shouldn't have been because he had earned his way to the Red Sox by hisfine play in late 2010.

 

Of course, you say he might have gotten injured if he was with the Red Sox instead of Pawtucket, but he might not of. He was hurt because he was in the minors where he should not have been. He wouldn't have gotten that same injury most likely had he been with the Red Sox. That is a FACT!!!!!! This was a front office screwup based only Drew's bloated salary, not who could have done a better job. That is also a FACT!!!!!!

 

As for Elllsbury, he would not have gotten his ribs crushed if he had been playing CF where he should have been. Could he have gotten injured some other way? Perhaps, just as he did in 2012, but he wouldn't have gotten injured that badly. He was injured because of a disatrous decision by Epstein to supposeldly "save his legs". Anyone who believes that is more screwed up than they can imagine. He was put in left to give cover to the miserable signing of Mike Cameron. To have put the fast declining Cameron in left would have been to compare the 210, power sapped Mike with Jason Bay, who had hit 36 homers and driven in 119 runs for he Red Sox in 2009. Ells in LF was a safe move since he was coming off a 301 season and close to 60 stolen bases, leading the ALin that dept.

 

The ramifications go deeper than that. Sure Bay got a concussion playing in that airport of Citi Park. But maybe it was because he was not familiar with that wall since he was new there. He knew the Monster like the back of his hand, and though he might have gotten some kind of injury had he stayed in Boston the fact is it most likely wouldn't have been that kind of one. For the record, Cameron stunk in CF too, misplaying many balls early in the season and got hurt as well. With a year he was waived off the team. Great move in signing him, right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!

 

How about some more ramifications. After we lost Bay what did we try to do? We tried to sign Matt Holliday to play LF. Apparently feeling lowballed, he went to the Cardinals instead.....so what did we do? We signed John Lackey, which up to now has been anotheer disastrous move by the Red Sox. Still lookingfor a LF we then made the biggest bungle of all----we signed Carl Crawford, who just about everyone now believes was a total inept move.....a bad fit for us because he did not fit in with our lineup in any way.

 

So yes, I see our front office making one move after another that has blown up in their faces the past few years. You can try and defend the but I would suggest you look at this realistically and get your head out of the sand.

[seabeachfred]

It was absolutely a completely random accident, not something that can be predicted. If anyone here can find a single post on this site (or any other for that matter) saying that moving Ellsbury to LF was a bad idea because Beltre might run into him, I will absolutely take it back. People may have said moving him to LF wasn't a good idea, but it had nothing to do with Beltre.

 

Random or not, Ellsbury should not have been moved to LF in the first place. Take Beltre out of it, it still was a stupid idea and I insist it was done to give cover to Mike Cameron who was pretty much Bay's replacement in the OF. Putting a guy who hit 301 with about 60 SB in LF to play the position Bay played would look a lot better than Cameron who could no longer hit worth s*** and proved he couldn't play CF any more either. Or have you forgotten his numerous misplays at Fenway before he too got injured. I have not forgotten.

[mvp 78]

He wouldn't have gotten that same injury most likely had he been with the Red Sox. That is a FACT!!!!!! This was a front office screwup based only Drew's bloated salary, not who could have done a better job. That is also a FACT!!!!!!

 

As for Elllsbury, he would not have gotten his ribs crushed if he had been playing CF where he should have been. Could he have gotten injured some other way? Perhaps, just as he did in 2012, but he wouldn't have gotten injured that badly.

 

The ramifications go deeper than that. Sure Bay got a concussion playing in that airport of Citi Park. But maybe it was because he was not familiar with that wall since he was new there. He knew the Monster like the back of his hand, and though he might have gotten some kind of injury had he stayed in Boston the fact is it most likely wouldn't have been that kind of one.

 

We signed John Lackey, which up to now has been anotheer disastrous move by the Red Sox.

 

Still lookingfor a LF we then made the biggest bungle of all----we signed Carl Crawford, who just about everyone now believes was a total inept move.....a bad fit for us because he did not fit in with our lineup in any way.

1. Or if Kalish was in Boston, he could have gone crazy, broken into the team plane's cockpit and flown the plane straight into the ground! Hypotheticals!

 

2. Or Ells could have been hurt even worse in CF since he clearly has the injury bug as you clearly stated.

 

3. Like the back of his hand??? Does absence make the heart grow fonder. Bay was competent in LF, not exceptional. And like you said, Bay probably would have been injured anyway.

 

4. Even if they signed Holliday, they still would have picked up Lackey.

 

5. Of course "now" people think CC was a bad signing. Prior to 2011, the majority of people were clamoring for him to be signed by the Sox.

[jung]

Ah yes....our offseason cup runeth over.:D

[seabeachfred]

1. Or if Kalish was in Boston, he could have gone crazy, broken into the team plane's cockpit and flown the plane straight into the ground! Hypotheticals!

 

2. Or Ells could have been hurt even worse in CF since he clearly has the injury bug as you clearly stated.

 

3. Like the back of his hand??? Does absence make the heart grow fonder. Bay was competent in LF, not exceptional. And like you said, Bay probably would have been injured anyway.

 

4. Even if they signed Holliday, they still would have picked up Lackey.

 

5. Of course "now" people think CC was a bad signing. Prior to 2011, the majority of people were clamoring for him to be signed by the Sox.

 

I think it is fair to say that over the past four seasons the front office and ownership has made some pretty miserable moves and a lot of mistakes. This off season seems to be a turn in the right direction. The signing have been pretty damn good and we've covered a lot of bases. We need to get the Napoli thing settled and I would like another decent starting pitcher but to me it will all come down to good health, fewer, much fewer injuries than we've suffered the past four seasons, and especially Lester, Buchholz and Lackey pitching very effectively and ably backed up by Doubrant and Dempster.

 

I know that's a lot to ask for but maybe we could swing it. I recall that in 2004 I don't think any of our starters missed their spot in the rotation and didn't the Rays do the same thing in 2008?

[User Name]

Name one ownership that, regardless of the risk, has not made "a lot of mistakes" the past few seasons.

[mvp 78]

Name one ownership that, regardless of the risk, has not made "a lot of mistakes" the past few seasons.

 

Came here to say the exact same thing.

[a700hitter]

Name one ownership that spent as much money as the Red Sox over the last 3 years with a result of driving the team into last place.

[Dojji]

There you go again, assuming that the actual results were always inevitable. Must take a lot of the drama out of life.

 

Why do you even watch the season? Why not just come back in September to see what was always going to happen anyway?

[a700hitter]

There you go again, assuming that the actual results were always inevitable. Must take a lot of the drama out of life.

 

Why do you even watch the season? Why not just come back in September to see what was always going to happen anyway?

This is completely incoherent gibberish, but I am sure that you know what you meant.

[a700hitter]

There you go again, assuming that the actual results were always inevitable.

The actual results are the only ones that count. Duh. That's what you get judged on. You don't get judged on "what ifs".

[Dojji]

Why not?

[seabeachfred]

Name one ownership that spent as much money as the Red Sox over the last 3 years with a result of driving the team into last place.

 

Notice Ted that suddenly our two friends have no answer to your retort. Pretty much what have to expect when they take the usual party line and becomes emperors with no clothes.

[User Name]

Fred, what the hell are you talking about? Have you seen the bloated Mets, Angels and Dodgers payrolls only to produce teams that didn't make the playoffs?

 

The question hadn't been answered because it's asinine, just like the post you just made. Stop blabbing nonsense.