ORS

Not his first.

Paging the Dojji....

Wash, rinse, repeat. Some things never change.

Strong prediction, essentially saying he's cooked as a player. We'll see how it plays out. I don't think the ship has sailed on his ability or trade value.

And the totally fantastical Thornton money-swap trade rears its head again. We get it, you can quit bringing it up until it actually happens, which isn't likely because it isn't as clever as you want it to be.

FTR, Beckett can reject a trade because he has 10/5 rights. So, no shipping him off to the Pirates for spite.

I think I've nailed. SoxSport is a writer's agent for Mazz and Cafardo. That's the only plausible explanation for why someone would so regularly cite their work as reasonable and well thought out.

Lead off tonight's game with a dinger. Rain stopped the game. It will resume tomorrow.

Looks like Robertson not only inherited Rivera's job, but his strike zone too. He just got gifted 3 strike calls to end the game with the bases juiced vs Pena.

Maddon just took a LHP that blew Cano away out of the game to turn Teixeira around to bat LH, in Yankee Stadium with the short porch. He brings in Joel Peralta with a 5.68 era. Take note, Maddon lovers.....no matter the outcome, this is stupid.

By getting McDonald or Byrd out of the lineup. I know that you think it is important to support the struggling pitchers with good defense as much as possible, but that doesn't mean you can totally ignore what happens on the offensive side of the equation. These defensive considerations aren't being done in a vacuum with only one goal, improving the defense. All of this is being considered for the significant upgrade in offensive production out of the LF position that WMB could potentially provide.

Who is clamoring? We are acknowleding reality. The reality is that when he gets back, he'll be the 3B. They won't trade him for nothing. They will see if he can recover his game. And, they should. The list is long of players who have hit a bump in the road only to recover their game. Youkilis is not yet at the age where you wouldn't be surprised by a precipitous decline. Plus, it's in their best interests to give him a chance. Either he recovers his trade value for the TDL, or, and this is what I think should happen if he gets his stride back, he deepens the heart of the order down the stretch.

I'm saying that I expect a learning curve at either position. Playing SS at the MLB level is nothing like playing it in the Texas HS league. If he's going to have a learning curve, have it at the least impactful defensive position, LF, not the most important, SS. Is this really all that difficult for you to understand? Middlebrooks is going to have some circus moments due to inexperience no matter where he plays that isn't 3B. I'd rather stick the clown in the corner and not in the middle of the field. I don't care about who played where and when in the past. I'm talking about now, and the reality is that both Middlebrooks and Aviles will have a learning curve if they switch positions. I think you mitigate that by keeping the competent MIF a MIF and asking the athletic corner IF to play corner OF. It's really not mind boggling, it's quite simple. It's damage control. Furthermore, WMB got moved from SS to 3B the moment he hit the organization's farm system. You don't think that happened for a reason?

Do you bother to read the discussion at all? I try not to speak for people, but I'm pretty sure a700 is suggesting they keep him up and play him in the OF when Youk returns from the DL.

Yes, I can. Here are your points: Middlebrooks played SS in HS so that is where he should play now if they try and force him into the lineup, not LF. HS was 5 years ago. He hasn't played SS or OF since then. When playing someone out of their normal position, I choose a less critical position, ie LF. This is a valid dispute. The fact of their histories does not preclude consideration of their current play and mitigation of the impact of the learning curve, which is what I'm doing. No, I can't dispute that it is a fact that he played SS in HS. I can dispute it's relevance to right now, and I am. He misread a flyball off of his bat. If I made decisions off of one anecdotal situation, I'd make a whole truckload of impulsive and wrong decisions. I don't care that he misread a fly ball off of his bat. You see very good defensive OF do this all the time. No matter how many times you bring this up ad nauseum, it proves nothing. I dispute the relevance of this evidence. What else is there besides your opinion, which I place very little value on, that he won't be good enough to be acceptable out there?

I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to bench him, and since WMB is the better athlete, he makes more sense in the OF since Youkilis can't cover as much ground.