So how about Daniel Nava?

[Behindenemylines]

but he sprays to all fields from both sides

 

You live in a fantasy world. Nava is a lefty platoon type of guy. I do think there is merit in using him as the backup 1st baseman and 5th OF'er.

 

The Sweeney signing is to replace Kalish in the competition with Nava for the left handed platoon in LF with Gomes getting most of the LF righty ABs. Its sad, but I think Kalish may never get a chance because of the injuries.

[dupree]

Kalish very well may never get to show off his talent due to injuries. But its good that they didnt wait until after ST to figure out his shoulder was going to be an ailment. I guess as far as timing goes its better now in the offseason that later in the year.

[seabeachfred]

Almost zero chance this happens. Taz posted a 1.43 ERA last year and a 9.2 K:BB ratio. He's not going down to AAA. Not even close, not even with the options.

 

The bullpen, IMO, will look like this:

 

Hanrahan - Bailey - Bard (especially now, after Farrell's comments) - Uehara - Tazawa - Miller - Breslow.

 

I fully expect one of Aceves or Morales to get dealt with Salty before the season starts. And I expect the other of Aceves or Morales to be learning how to start in AAA.

 

Don't count that out SFF. The Red Sox front office is notorious for sending down players with options for "more damn seasoning." I hope not and I hope further that Bard is given just enough rope to hang himself. IMHO he is through with the Red Sox, a worse case than Craig Hansen and we all know what happened to him. BarF is mentally all f***ed up, is mechanics are in retreat and he doesn't seem to have the smarts to know what to do to remedy his decline. The front office still plays favorites---we saw that for years with Manny Delgarbage. We kept him for almost six, he has one half-good year (2007) and stunk the rest of the time. Within two years he was out of baseball, dropped by Colorado and New York. This front office of ours has a hard time learning from their mistakes.

[mvp 78]

He was small for his age so his parents had him dosed with HGH. Fact, from what I read.

 

Seems like he's still taking it. Fine by me. If Ryan Braun can get off scott free, why not everyone else?

[User Name]

inb4 dojji ejaculation

[Bellhorn04]

I don't think even Dojji imagined Nava having an .883 OPS and 37 RBI on June 1.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Nava has a 135 wRC+, which is 6th best of all AL OF.

 

That's incredible.

[iortiz]

Seems like the guy is for real. Let him play everyday.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Dude can play, his plate discipline is great as he's walking at a 13% clip and striking out at less than 20%. I don't think he's a .880 OPS guy full season but I think he could definitely be a .270/.370/.440 hitter which would be great for a cost controlled OF.

[User Name]

I think he'd be an .880 OPS guy if they played him exclusively against righties. He can mash them, and it's no fluke.

[Bellhorn04]

Nava is 6th in the league in OBP, 9th in OPS and T8th in RBI.

[SoxSport]

The FO has its work cut out with Nava, Iggy and Bradley. There is a logjam due to all the FA signings.

The policy has been to play the money, but that will have to change. In a sense, you can't have your cake, and eat it too. You either play the money or the kids. It's the kids that are the upside.

[Bellhorn04]

The FO has its work cut out with Nava, Iggy and Bradley. There is a logjam due to all the FA signings.

The policy has been to play the money, but that will have to change. In a sense, you can't have your cake, and eat it too. You either play the money or the kids. It's the kids that are the upside.

 

It's a 'good problem' though. The infield logjam can be resolved by DFA'ing Ciriaco, or trading Drew. We have a better team this year if we DFA Ciriaco.

 

The outfield logjam is trickier.

[rjortiz]

I don't think it's that tricky.

 

LF - Nava/Gomes

CF - Ellsbury

RF - Victorino

 

Bradley continues to be groomed for Ellsbury's spot in 2014 at AAA. If Gomes continues to tank, maybe they try Brentz as Nava's platoon partner. They could also explore a trade. Denforia could probably be had for cheap.

 

Regardless, it's a pretty good problem to have.

[Palodios]

Nava's splits are pretty heavy --

 

.229/.316/.354/.670

.322/.430/.537/.967

 

I would argue that it is probably worth continuing the platoon. Gomes is 32 years old, healthy, and has a career .880 OPS against lefties in places like Tampa and Oakland. The guy can hit lefties, and I don't think its fair to judge 60 ABs against them in 2013 -- especially since half of them are from the likes of Pettite, Sabathia, Price, Chen, Cliff Lee, and Holland.

[MJantomaso]

Maybe Nava should drop the while switch hit thing and use his primary side.

[Standing Room]

Nava's splits are pretty heavy --

 

.229/.316/.354/.670

.322/.430/.537/.967

 

I would argue that it is probably worth continuing the platoon. Gomes is 32 years old, healthy, and has a career .880 OPS against lefties in places like Tampa and Oakland. The guy can hit lefties, and I don't think its fair to judge 60 ABs against them in 2013 -- especially since half of them are from the likes of Pettite, Sabathia, Price, Chen, Cliff Lee, and Holland.

 

Yeah, as great as he's been, we still can't start Nava against lefthanders when we're healthy.

[Bellhorn04]

One weird/interesting thing about Nava's splits: both for this year and his career, he has a higher OPS in games with a lefty starter vs. games with a righty starter. So he has really been mashing righty relievers that come in after a lefty starter!

[a700hitter]

Maybe Nava should drop the while switch hit thing and use his primary side.

He tried it once and he said that hitting lefty against a lefty freaked him out.

[MJantomaso]

He tried it once and he said that hitting lefty against a lefty freaked him out.

 

well he needs to quit being a bitch then.

[Beaneater]

Nava is 6th in the league in OBP, 9th in OPS and T8th in RBI.

 

Sounds like he's all All-Star this year if it were done by merit and not popularity.

[rjortiz]

Bautistia will be the RF for tha AL. Trout the LF. Nava's been good, but he's not an All-Star this year.

[User Name]

So making the All-Star team as a reserve or write-in means you're not an All-Star?

[SoxSport]

All-star ballots are loaded--you can vote 25 times. Popularity contests. Skewed to big markets. Nava doesn't have the star recognition to get enough votes. Besides, he still has to demonstrate consistency through the season--which I think he will if he can stay healthy. Plus he has to stay in the lineup, and right now they have a logjam of outfielders. If he goes 0 for 4, he's liable to see the bench next game. Farrell seemed to imply otherwise, however.

[iortiz]

If Nava had played everyday he would have had a case.

[rjortiz]

I don't think he's going to make it as a reserve as of now.

[User Name]

I don't think he's going to make it as a reserve as of now.

 

If he keeps this up, he certainly has a shot. As of now there probably are a couple guys who wouldn't make it that probably will.

[rjortiz]

If he keeps this up, he certainly has a shot. As of now there probably are a couple guys who wouldn't make it that probably will.

 

The one player per team rule will probably hurt him too. Rios could sneak in that way. Nava is defintely in the mix, though. Probably behind Rios and Markakis. Can't think of any others.

[Dojji]

Maybe Nava should drop the while switch hit thing and use his primary side.

 

People keep suggesting that for switch hitters that have a platoon weakness. It worked for Hanley, but it won't work for everyone. It's a different look to see LHP as an LHH than as an RHH, so adjusting can be a big gamble. Nava's a smart kid, though, so I wouldn't mind seeing him try it.

 

That said Nava hit fine from the right side in the minors, and he's shown flashes of success with it this year. He's shown he has the talent to get it done, he just needs to figure out what's wrong with his approach from the right side in the bigs. If that's the last frontier for him, I'm fine with it -- he wouldn't be the first "lefthanded" bat who struggles v left.

[User Name]

The one player per team rule will probably hurt him too. Rios could sneak in that way. Nava is defintely in the mix, though. Probably behind Rios and Markakis. Can't think of any others.

 

Rios has cooled down significantly, and the entire White Sox lineup is slumping. Nava has significantly better numbers than Markakis in every aspect except RBI.