So how about Daniel Nava?

[BornToRun]

Crawford is too good to sit for some kid in his late 20's who's having a hot streak. It's that simple. I love nava, believe me I do, but Crawfords gotta be the guy when he returns.

[Bellhorn04]

Crawford is too good to sit for some kid in his late 20's who's having a hot streak. It's that simple. I love nava' date=' believe me I do, but Crawfords gotta be the guy when he returns.[/quote']

 

Fair enough, but Crawford's gotta produce too, and he may not have a huge amount of time in which to re-establish himself. There will be at least as much heat on him now as there was last year. The timing of these injury issues was bad. If he was healthy at the start of the year he would have been given some time to get it going.

[Bellhorn04]

The more I think about it, jung may have made a good call with the soft landing for CC idea. It would take some pressure off him.

[jung]

I don't understand people being do dead certain that Crawford will even come back to his career numbers. He was a complete bust last year and has been on the shelf all this year. That basically accounts for 1.5 years of his career for a guy that has made a living in part with his legs.

 

I do think that talent is talent. Crawford is the more talented player without question. The Sox so far have not found a found a way to unlock that talent and now Crawford is a year and a half older.

 

I don't think they will baby him but I do think they will be careful with him. I don't think they will attempt anything that smells like whatever they might have tried last year because whatever that was, it did not result in simple failure. It resulted in a player that got progressively worse through the year going from bad to basket case.

 

There is the track record that they hope for (not here so far) and the track record they have (here). Clearly they are going to hope for the one that they acquired. However I would not expect them to simply go about business as usual or go back to what they were doing or not doing last year. They have to much money tied up in Crawford and no way out.

 

It does not matter that this is baseball. Go to your boss to discuss with him an employee or a program that failed that fabulously last year and tell him that you are just going to do the same thing again this year and see how far that gets ya'.

 

We might get some idea what they plan on doing when we see if they put him right into the 2 hole, the spot that he has petitioned for (ridiculous to begin with and not what you would expect of a confident player) or whether they start him out elsewhere. It would be hard to believe that the 2 hole just so happens to be the best the best place for him on day 1 unless his stay in rehab is inordinately long.

[example1]

Lots of players have down years. Josh Beckett looked like the worst pitcher in the league in 2006 and bounced back considerably. Adam Dunn was terrible last year.

 

I suspect that if Crawford still played for Tampa and had his 2011 season while playing for Tampa, people would be saying "you have to watch out for Crawford, he's still a really dangerous player. Just look at that track record!"

 

But because he plays for Boston the pessimism naturally takes over, things that players do on other teams no longer applies, and we are suddenly doomed to 6 seasons of one of the worst players in the league.

 

Players have bad seasons, then they have good seasons. Did you know, for instance, that even the great Daniel Nava had a .778 OPS in AAA last year?

[Bellhorn04]

Lots of players have down years. Josh Beckett looked like the worst pitcher in the league in 2006 and bounced back considerably. Adam Dunn was terrible last year.

 

I suspect that if Crawford still played for Tampa and had his 2011 season while playing for Tampa, people would be saying "you have to watch out for Crawford, he's still a really dangerous player. Just look at that track record!"

 

But because he plays for Boston the pessimism naturally takes over, things that players do on other teams no longer applies, and we are suddenly doomed to 6 seasons of one of the worst players in the league.

 

Players have bad seasons, then they have good seasons. Did you know, for instance, that even the great Daniel Nava had a .778 OPS in AAA last year?

 

Reasonable points...I think some of that pessimism stems from fear of the 'Renteria syndrome', a condition where the player is truly unable to cope with the pressures and general insanity of playing for Boston.

[FredLynn]

I'm sorry.

 

Are you guys actually going to sit here and tell me that Nava is a better player than Carl Crawford??

 

Has it really come to this?? My dear God. This is pathetic.

 

Over the long haul, almost certainly Crawford is better. Nava is hot, but Crawford, despite last year's abortion, is a solid OF (overpaid) who is likely to get close to his career norms for us. Great if Nava can keep this up, but I don't see that happening.

[SCM33]

So how about him?

[FenwayWest]

Starting to look better after today's Crawford news, eh?

[example1]

Starting to look better after today's Crawford news' date=' eh?[/quote']

 

Let's see... after his last 21 games (not including tonight's 0-4 performance) Nava has a .721 OPS with a .346 OBP. I'd say he has thoroughly come back down to Earth.

 

There would be better OF options.

[mvp 78]

Paging Dojji...

 

Any comment on Nava's terrible July?

 

Meh, he'll pop up the next time Nava goes 4-5...

[a700hitter]

We can't complain about the job he did. He did a fantastic job for a prolonged period. The unfortunate truth is that he just is not a major league OFer that a good team can keep on its roster for an entire season. I think he might be able to find a spot in the majors as a bench OFer because he has made tremendous improvements fielding and throwing. His drawback is that he can only play LF. Teams usually want their reserve OFers to be able to play at least 2 OF spots.

[jung]

The Sox were not an offensive juggernaut in from middle June to the ASB across the board. They ran into a heavy dose of real good pitching and it took its toll. I think Nava suffered more than some of the better hitters on the team and you could see how he could be overpowered by certain pitchers.

 

He is still one of the few truly team oriented hitters the Sox have and while I cannot see Nava starting anywhere in the ML, I would love to transplant his head into somebody else's body. If we had more hitters that thought like him, we would not have so much trouble getting timely hits.

[SoxSport]

Hate to see the kid get put under a micrscope. He's a good hitter and has done a helluva job in Boston this year filling in for Crawford--better than expected. He's shown enough to stick in the big leagues, as far as I'm concerned--as a starter or reserve. Another dinger today batting behind Ells. If he can get hot again, maybe he can lead off, so they can move Ells to 3rd--where Ells belongs if he can show his power again. They need more hitting around Ortiz, who isn't getting much to hit. Gonzalez needs to bat 6th until he shows some pop again.

[Bellhorn04]

A home run and two walks today. Crawford comes back tomorrow. I would still hate to see Nava get traded. I have to admit, part of the reason for that is that I find him so likeable.

[BornToRun]

A home run and two walks today. Crawford comes back tomorrow. I would still hate to see Nava get traded. I have to admit' date=' part of the reason for that is that I find him so likeable.[/quote']

 

I think Sweeney would go before nava

[Rdsxmbnt]

I think Sweeney would go before nava

 

I think they try to trade Sweeney but until then I think Nava gets optioned tomorrow to make room for Crawford.

 

Tough situation but Sweeney plays all three OF spots and can't really ditch Lillibridge yet since no one else really plays 1B.

[redsoxfan3]

I think they try to trade Sweeney but until then I think Nava gets optioned tomorrow to make room for Crawford.

 

Tough situation but Sweeney plays all three OF spots and can't really ditch Lillibridge yet since no one else really plays 1B.

 

David Ortiz can play first base. I am not 100% sure, but I think Punto can play first as good as Lillibridge. I think we need to get rid of Lillibridge. As bad as his bat is, we can find someone to replace him.

[SoxSport]

Paging Dojji...

 

Any comment on Nava's terrible July?

 

Meh, he'll pop up the next time Nava goes 4-5...

 

Today is July 15th. It ain't over 'till it's over.

 

Hit a HR today.

[SoxSport]

They ought to get rid of both Sweeney and Lillibridge. Ciriaco is a better choice in the infield. Punto is a problem with his contract, but he's another guy who should be used only as a last resort--late innings defense, not starting.

[Dojji]

Paging Dojji...

 

Any comment on Nava's terrible July?

 

Meh, he'll pop up the next time Nava goes 4-5...

 

Nava is clearly the only ballplayer in human history to have a horrible month.

 

Sorry guys, been out with some computer issues -- namely, my bro came for an extended visit and "my" computer, which is actually Dad's computer, got put in mothballs for awhile.

 

Nava's line is still pretty decent even with the slump. .265/.384/.425/.809 is actually somewhere around what I feel is his actual talent level -- maybe bump the AVG up to .275 or so. IF he hits any better than that on a year, he's a starting left fielder somewhere in this league.

[SemperFi Sox]

He's coming back to Earth, anyone who though he was more than a 4th OF was crazy.

[Dojji]

He's coming back to Earth' date=' anyone who though he was more than a 4th OF was crazy.[/quote']

 

He's still more than a 4th if you take the bad with the good.

 

Don't be insane yourself.

 

And see sig.

[a700hitter]

I think they try to trade Sweeney but until then I think Nava gets optioned tomorrow to make room for Crawford.

 

Tough situation but Sweeney plays all three OF spots and can't really ditch Lillibridge yet since no one else really plays 1B.

Nava is out of options. He would have to be DFA'd. I don't think we could get anything for Sweeney. Heck, we couldn't get anything for Youk and we are paying his salary. Sweeney hits a HR every 150 ABs on average in a 7 year career. He has 14 HRs for his career and none this season. He doesn't run very well either. I'm not seeing a market for him. I would still option Lillibridge as he is completely useless.

[a700hitter]

He's still more than a 4th if you take the bad with the good.

 

Don't be insane yourself.

 

And see sig.

I think the kid has done a great job of maximizing his performance by compensating for his lack of size and physical skill with very hard work.

 

What is up with your sig? Have you joined a cult?

[Dojji]

Nava is out of options. He would have to be DFA'd. I don't think we could get anything for Sweeney. Heck' date=' we couldn't get anything for Youk and we are paying his salary. Sweeney hits a HR every 150 ABs on average in a 7 year career. He has 14 HRs for his career and none this season. He doesn't run very well either. I'm not seeing a market for him. I would still option Lillibridge as he is completely useless.[/quote']

 

How could Nava be out of options? I don't think he got optioned in '11. I don't think he was ever called up.

[Laser Show]

How could Nava be out of options? I don't think he got optioned in '11. I don't think he was ever called up.

 

Soxprospects.com shows him as having 1 option remaining. It shows he was optioned in both '10 and '11, but I can't find (nor do I remember) anything that shows him being called up last year either.

 

http://soxprospects.com/players/nava-daniel.htm

[jacksonianmarch]

he was on the 40 man, so they had to option him at the beginning of the season. He was DFA'd soon after then re-signed

[Elktonnick]

I'd be surprised if they DFA'd Nava for one simple reason, Crawfords's elbow. We know that CC will need TJ surgery eventually and there is a fair possibility that he could get injured at any time. Nava may never make the All Star team but he has shown to be a more than adequate left fielder

[a700hitter]

Soxprospects.com shows him as having 1 option remaining. It shows he was optioned in both '10 and '11, but I can't find (nor do I remember) anything that shows him being called up last year either.

 

http://soxprospects.com/players/nava-daniel.htm

I think they dropped him from the 40 man roster last year and they had to DFA him to do it. He cleared waivers and was reassigned to Pawtucket. That's why I thought he was out of options.