a700hitter

I don't think it is realistic that Youkilis will be relegated to a backup role. There's more of a chance that they try to get him to play LF.

I don't see how having him play some OF this season would hinder his development at 3B too much. He could continue to work on his skills at 3B with the major league coaching staff and he could spell Youk on occasion. Lot's of guys play more than one position at the beginning of their careers. Didn't Pedroia play an ocassional game at SS at the beginning?

Rehab assignments cannot go more than 30 days. Maybe he will be at the 30 day mark after his next start.

Impressions of tonight's game: Will Middlebrooks is a big strong kid. He looks as big and strong from the right side as Ortiz is from the left side. Can Middlebrooks play LF for when Youkilis comes back. Our substitute OFers have terrible range and instincts as it is. How much worse could WMB be? Added bonus of finally getting rid of DMac. When Ortiz hits, they score runs, but he can't do it every night. Bobby V is clearly mentally challenged when making the lineup. Was he trying to take the bat out of the hands of his best hitter by putting Ross up in between Ortiz and Gonzo? The walk of Ortiz and the DP in the 6th inning kept the game within stiking distance. My head would've exploded if Ross didn't come thru later. Padilla wasn't thinking when he picked up the infield hit that was clearly going to spin foul.

Middlebrooks could fit Nava in his pocket.

Middlebrooks is a strong kid. I thought that would be a foul ball short of the fence.

More Darnell McDonald. Seen enough of that act.

I never made that statement about Gonzo. I just changed your post to give it the proper context. He didn't merely go hitless for 1 game yesterday. Plus, his XBH power has been nonexistent up to this point.

Fixing this team is a tall order, but it needs fixing. It will not fix itself. As Peter Gammons said at the close of yesterday's broadcast, if they wait for the injured guys to come back, it could be too late. With this current crew, they are likely to be 15 games out of first by July. What do we have currently? We have an offense with only 3 premier hitters (Pedroia, Agon and Ortiz). Spare me the arguments for Aviles, Sweeney, Ross, or Middlebrooks. One is a rookie and the other three are journeyman type players. When you have 3 established offensive players, you will have tremendous inconsistency scoring runs. There will be games where we bludgeon the opponents and others where we look helpless against mediocre pitching. Our rotation can't go deep into games. Beckett and Lester cannot consistently give us quality starts. Our rotation does not have a "big three". Buchholz is a train wreck. If they don't option him to Pawtucket to work out his problems, he will continue to embarrass himself and cost the Sox games. Bard and Doubront are proving that they are unproven. Their performances have ranged from average to awful. The state of the rotation causes greater reliance on the bull pen exposing its deficiencies. Hopefully, Aceves is establishing himself as the end of game hammer, but there is little other talent in that pen and they are already being over-used. How do you fix the team? There is so much wrong. Where do you even start. It was poorly constructed from the start and very thinly stocked. It didn't have the depth to survive Injury.

^Corrected to give proper context. Yesterday, was the equivalent of going hitless for 2 or 3 games. Plus, his XBH ability has not shown up. You don't pay $22 million for a singles hitting first baseman who can't run.

Offer declined. You will stay here and suffer with the rest of us. That will be your punishment. You don't get a reprieve.

Troll mojo didn't work today. Impressions of today's game: This team has plenty of fight. They fought like hell on Friday and Sunday, but they don't have a killer instinct like the great Sox teams did. The Orioles made plenty of miscues during those games. Red Sox teams in past seasons that had the killer instinct would have run the O's off the field in the first 3 innings. Buchholz is lost. He needs to go to AAA to find himself. They can't keep rolling him out there to get treated like a punching bag. Salty is at best a backup catcher. I'd prefer to keep Shoppach as the backup and send Salty away. DMac needs to go away too. The Sox should not have a 33 year old AAA player on the roster. Agon had an epic bad day. He needs to break out. Hopefully, it will be soon.

I agree

DMac needs to be cut. He just sucks in every aspect of the game.

AGon and his $22 million k'ing against a position player. Ridiculous.

U don't think they should've sent the runner?

^ Corrected

Salty couldn't even make contact.

I was wondering the same thing. The announcers are not mentioning it so it must be something they want to address.

Give me a holler when either one of those guys matter.