I don't remember him play 1B in the All Star game. Back in those years, my softball team always got scheduled to play on the Tuesday, so I probably missed it.
The big guy has always been under rated with the glove. He has good hands an accurate arm and good footwork. That was an excellent play by Papi. Beckett was asleep at the switch.
But he is very strong and it would be nice to have that kind of power threat in the bottom half of the lineup. So you would play him for 10 days in the OF in AAA and possibly bring him up?
Oh yeah, I've seen him hit 97. I've seen him come out of the box in the first inning hitting 95-96 from the first pitch. He didn't sit at 97, but he definitely would touch 97 in his starts.
Gonzo made a nice play in the RF corner. If we can live with him in the OF, WMB shouldn't be a problem. I'd hate to lose that power threat from the lineup.