DirtDog

Jackie Bradley Jr 2012 in AA: .271/.373/.437 (271 PA) Jackie Bradley Jr 2013 in AAA: .275/.375/.469 (374 PA) Revert? Not sure that word means what you think it means in that usage. If anything he improved going up a level, which is a great sign and th opposite of what you're implying. He simply was not ready last year. 90% of the posters on here would agree he should have started in AAA. Many prospects would have not have the make up to handle a demotion as well as JBJ. Long term projections never have him at Ellsbury's ceiling. No one thinks he will be a 5 win player. I think you're making up expectations of what Red Sox fans think here. Yes Salty had a career year in terms of WAR. Defensive metrics for catchers mean nothing at this point. We are nowhere near understanding mathematically the value of a good defensive catcher using advanced metrics. In terms of pitch framing and throwing out runners, Salty was very bad. Conjecture. Bogaerts is the #1 or #2 rated prospect in all of MLB. He can bust but that is very unlikely. Most projectionss have him succeeding Drew's offensive projection easily and he will be average on D. The reality is he has already replaced Drew. The future 2015 and beyond upside is much, much more. We will miss his defense no doubt. But a lot of that was playing SS. You expect a team to go into a season with Iglesias at 3rd? idk. You are pretty much doubling down your same logic for losing Stephen Drew here. Sox lost 1 shortstop from last year. Not 2. Now, lets take a look at the sox players in 2013 who had career or resurgent offensive years. Your franchise shortstop is 40. Player X has bad year, player is bad. Player X has good year, player should regress. I think I'm catching onto your general drift. Nava has raked at every single level he's been at where he's had a legitimate starting job. Look at his career numbers majors and minors. Maybe he won't hit .300 but his OBP is no joke. He probably had the best defensive year of an Sox right fielder since Dwight Evans. That's where most of the WAR came from. His offense was above average all year and he was in and out of the lineup with knicks and knacks. You can argue he wasn't even healthy for the majority of 2013. He's K'd like that his entire career. He put up pretty much career norms across the board this year. Look at his year in 2011 and tell me 2013 is a fluke. Not sure what else to say. LOL, again that bold statement is complete conjecture. You're right though. Out of all the guys I find it hard to believe he will have the year he did last year. I agree with you on this. However his walk rate went down and his K rate was the highest of his entire career which suggests something else entirely. Just for fun, look at Chris Davis' career numbers before 2012. Look familiar? Carp turned 27 last year. I'm not saying it's a definite, but there is a small chance they could have a young power hitting first basemen who just figured it out last year. Of all the guys you mention you conveniently leave out the fact that Pedroia - the most important player on the Red Sox - had a pretty down year offensively. He must be just getting bad and it's a downward spiral. No way he can possibly rebound. Dude have you looked at your 2014 New York Yankees starting infield? OMG LMFAO. Most of your points in this again is complete conjecture. You also pretty much said the Sox staff blows the Yankees out of the water anyway. You forgot to mention the Red Sox have Webster, Barnes, Ranaudo just chilling in Pawtucket with the best of all of them Henry Owens not too much further away. Meanwhile the Yankees have ZERO depth whatsoever on the bench or in the minors so tell me when when happens if Kuroda and Ellsbury gets hurt? Yankees are GRADE-A f***ED. Meanwhile if an outfielder or starting pitcher go down for the Red Sox, they have replacements coming out of the woodworks off the bench and in Pawtucket that are quite comparable.

Hey something I wanted to happen, happened.

I don't think Texas really got much better, imo. Seattle might not be a better team, but I like that they would have a nasty rotation in a pitcher's park. If they can get 1 or 2 guys outside of Cano to contribute I think they can win 90 games call me crazy.

I have a feeling he might go to Seattle. That would be a sick rotation and they'd be a contendor.

Do you just talk out of your ass, or do you actually research anything? I would hardly call Nava's .250/.310/.350 against lefties an "automatic out." There's a reason why a guy like Choo who "struggles against lefties" still got a massive contract. You don't see nearly as many lefties as you do righties. Over the course of a full season you can get away with this small sample and platoon that player. As for your Denorfia example. Yes his defense is superior but he has a career .261/.317/.374 slash line against righties. Obviously he "Can't hit righties" by your ridiculous definition. I'd rather have a guy who "can't hit lefties" than a guy who "can't hit righties."

Besides the fact that there is a set number of players on a roster at 25, there is no problem!

He's hit 30 homers over the course of his first 650 PA or so... not out of the realm of possibility seeing as he's already done it. Granted, it was over two different seasons.

Sox won championship with Nava as backup RF

You already have a backup CF: Shane Victorino. plenty of corner OF depth in the minors... Brentz, Hassan, etc. Do we need a 3rd string 2nd baseman too?

Who exactly is a 6th outfielder replacing on the 25 man roster? I'm confused what you guys want.

if he can't generate enough power he may not make it at 1B. He rates below average defensively at third so theire's talk he may wind up in the OF. Depends how he develops over the next year I would say. If he does it will be nothing more than a September call up. Depends how he handles AAA when he gets there (he should get there)

He's coming into his 7th full year into the bigs, it's time to stop saying potential

We hardly have a solid sample on Bogaerts. While most would agree his ceiling is higher than WMB, let's temper expectations of him. Remember how we all felt awesome about Middlebrooks going into 2013. The point is... young players = growing pains. There is a good chance one of WMB/Bogaerts/Jackie Bradley will fall flat on their face.

Here's Dirt Dog's cracked out offseason trade that will never happen: Trade Ryan Dempster for Ichiro. Saves Sox money, and gives us that speed guy off the bench. Yankees get a pitching body! Win-Win! wooo!

I think we need a utility infielder over 6th outfielder

Who do you replace him on the 25 man roster with?

The Red Sox scored the most runs in the majors last year. But lets trade all our pitching prospects for Matt Kemp and Giancarlo Stanton!

You can't play 2B, SS or 3B throwing lefty. But there are plenty of lefty or switch hitting infielders. Chase Headley is one of them. While his plate discipline may be better than Middlebrooks, I don't know if he is necessarily better. Had a huge down year last year too.

I love how some of you guys want MLB starting talent backing up all positions. It doesn't work like that. If they were good enough to be starters, they'd be elsewhere. We aren't going to be able to sign a talented guy and sell him that he will be coming off the bench. Who exactly do you guys want? Michael Young?

Bit of stretch cause he probably won't be ready until 2015, but there's Cecchini...

I think it's reasonable for him to improve a little bit, but just because he won't be a star doesn't mean he is a bust. If he can provide .260/.310/.475 with 22-25 homers I will take it. With an average or above average glove... at the pricing of a pre-arb player... that's value.

Anyone know if there are any good 1B on the market in 2015? Our system is bare at that position... I'd be willing to go with Carp/Nava stopgap for a year over committing to Napoli for 3 or 4

Who plays short? If Yankees are as baseball savvy as they are getting credit for by showing restraint with Cano... they move Jeter to full time DH.

"Star" is a completely subjective term... not much gets accomplished debating semantics like that.