What can Francona do to right the ship?

[Palodios]

Another thing that concerns me is the chemistry. Especially Crawford. Why did they sign him? What weakness did he correct? They had a Crawford clone ready to play in Kalish--but pushed him to the back burner for a season so he can replace Drew.

 

And then there's AdGon, with Youks having to move to 3B. AdGon looks like a winner, but Youks has not been himself so far. Is it the position change? Or the thumb? Nobody's talkin'. It could well be the position change, and the stresses involved. The game is 50% mental. Look at how closers get bombed when they get put into non-closing situations.

 

This team will need a replacement for Drew eventually. Kalish only had a month in AAA-- now he has time to hone his skills before facing the toughest division in baseball. If you look at the free agent market after 2011, there really aren't any great options-- Dejesus, Ludwick, Ordonez, Beltran, Derosa. It is not a pretty group. Crawford sucks now. Its completely true. But they locked him up long term because he is a young player who is healthy, and can be a 6 WAR guy, and there is no one of that quality even close coming through free agency next year.

 

And Youk... this is a guy who is STILL getting on at a .424 clip which means one thing. He's still a very dangerous hitter. Pitchers are going that far to pitch around him, and when they aren't, he's hitting the ball hard, but right at players. Its not like he's getting a lot of weak groundouts, he has just been a bit unlucky.

[SoxSport]

This team will need a replacement for Drew eventually. Kalish only had a month in AAA-- now he has time to hone his skills before facing the toughest division in baseball. If you look at the free agent market after 2011, there really aren't any great options-- Dejesus, Ludwick, Ordonez, Beltran, Derosa. It is not a pretty group. Crawford sucks now. Its completely true. But they locked him up long term because he is a young player who is healthy, and can be a 6 WAR guy, and there is no one of that quality even close coming through free agency next year.

 

And Youk... this is a guy who is STILL getting on at a .424 clip which means one thing. He's still a very dangerous hitter. Pitchers are going that far to pitch around him, and when they aren't, he's hitting the ball hard, but right at players. Its not like he's getting a lot of weak groundouts, he has just been a bit unlucky.

 

All good points well taken. Youks has to get his power back--batting cleanup. He just hit a HR yesterday, and that's a great sign.

 

Isn't Kalish a switch hitter? That with help in the OF next year. Though I suspect Ellsbury will be traded--at some point. Being a Boras client. Unless he gets back to form, and lives up to a Boras contract.

[boy racer]

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=6381422