a700hitter

if I wanted to know about a player, I would find Vin Scilly to be a better source of information than any stats.

They should be grooming him to be the 2015 third baseman. That would nicely fill an obvious hole on this team

I can't understand why that double toe tap has not been coached out of his swing. It is so obviously an impediment to him getting to the fastball.

Would it be Webster and De La Rosa?

I don't know about his speed compared to Aoki, but he definitely doesn't have Ellsbury speed, and the Sox never converted him into a slap hitter, so I don't see slap hitting in Bradley's future.

THe Red Sox would be doing Bradley a favor if they trained him for another career.

Gowdy, Martin, most and Cusick were all great announcers who were around for a long time. It's amazing to think that Scully's career started as early as each of their career and has spanned well beyond not just their careers (Gowdy retired in the 70's) but for many years after the others had died.

probably not the best term to describe one's mind. The term means articulate--expressing yourself easily or characterized by clear expressive language.

Not to get off topic, but I watched some of the Dodger game last night. Vin Scilly is amazing. He has such a facile mind, and he's a great baseball expert and source of baseball history. I call him a "source of history" as opposed to an historian, because he has witnessed so much. He has been broadcasting since 1952. Truly amazing. He is the play by play and color commentator -- a one man show. There is no dead air time, no silliness -- just interest baseball stories. The guy is a national treasure.

I think this is the key. For better or worse, the Red Sox are committed to XB. They will have to ride it out to see what he becomes -- in large part because his trade value has been very devalued. However, they cannot count on him as a major offensive contributor in 2015. That would not be prudent, especially when we will be carrying sub par offense at catcher and an unknown quantity in Castillo in CF. IMO, they need to get a stick to play third base. Maybe that stick is Betts. I would be playing him at third for the remainder of the season to see if he can handle the hot corner. He is not going to play second next season, so why bother. He could get squeezed out of the OF with Cespedes, Castillo, Victorino and Craig. I think Betts is a Victorino type spark plug with the bat and would like to see him get a shot on 2015. They need to find him a position. Third base is wide open for the taking.

you can always give Fred a call if you want to have a private discussion. Fred is always eager for baseball conversation. As for your use of stats, you often misuse them and erroneously use them as conclusory proof which they rarely are. A lot of people think the same way. I ascribe to Vin Scully's philosophy on statistics--they should be used in the same way that a drunk uses a lamppost -- for support not illumination. In this case, the stats didn't really support your opinion (which was really based on nothing because you didn't claim to see the guy play very much). In fact, the stats showed that he was worse in almost every pressure category and significantly worse with RISP with 2 outs. I was just pointing out that which you failed to point out when you posted the slash lines. I realize that irks you because it is very important for you to be right.

He was more than marginally worse over his career with RISP and 2 out. The stats bear that out. If you want to make your case with stats, make it. You didn't. I didn't call Mondesi a choker. I didn't see him play enough to come to that conclusion. I just looked up the stats like you did.

That's 25 points off his career OPS and his career OPS with RISP with 2 outs is 69 below his career numbers.

I'd bring him back as a late inning guy, and injuries to closers give those guys a chance to step up.

i can see teams willing to take on a project that could turn into a 30 home run low obp player, but not for a project that might become a .250 hitter with no power.

he'd be at most a throw in. By himself, he nets us nothing. He is a busted prospect that has now become a project. The market for projects with no power potential is close to zero.

there is no luxury in the game to treat players as sacred cows. If he can't do the job like he used to do, they have to move him in the order.

I think that he has to get a couple of FA signings. His kids cannot turn things around by themselves even though they look like a very talented bunch.

JBJ is more of a buffalo chip than a trade chip at this point. I don't think anyone is losing sight of XB's age, but I think the expectations for him to be the next Sox superstar are a thing of the past.

and he is out of excuses for not playing .500 ball...right?

I agree, Spud. It is a mess. The good thing about a mess like this is that there are so many avenues they can go down to improve the situation. I also agree that the plan is for XB to be the starting SS in 2015. I hope that he improves defensively. He is not doing a good job right now. IMO, Middlebrooks and Bradley will not be considerations to make the 2015 roster. Vasquez is likely to get the job behind the plate and he is a defensive player without much offense. XBXB's offense can not be counted on either. No one can predict what Castillo will do offensively, but he has $72 million reasons why he will be one of our OFers. Those are 3 big offensive questions marks. They can't afford to have Middlebrooks and Bradley kill 2 more lineup slots. That would leave us with 4 reliable hitters -- Ortiz, Pedroia, Napoli, and Cespedes. Are you starting to see the potential trainwreck if middle stinks and Bradley are part of the picture? They are no-goes in my opinion. Middle stinks has the thinnest of margins for redemption. He has to absolutely tear up winter ball to get a shot next seaso., but the clueless bastard thinks that he just needs to stay healthy. In addition to adding 2 top of the rotation starters, we need at least one more productive bat.

Are you finally throwing in the towel on Bradley? What a ridiculous hype job the FO did on that guy! It's incredulous to me that the FO couldn't tell that he had no chance of matching the hype. He should have been traded before he got exposed. They got the "pump" part right of " pumping and dumping"' but they forgot the dump part. He took another oh'fer yesterday with 2 more k's. He can't even produce in garbage time. What a trainwreck ! I don't think that he has a future even as a 4th OFer. Ryan Kalish is a better 4 th OFer and he is having trouble sticking in the majors. DMac is a superstar 4th OFer compared to Bradley and he has spent more time on buses than in the majors.

it's too late to give up on him. He has taken an ax to his trade value. They have to see it through. They have already placed their bet on him. He is not going to be the next Nomar type superstar shortstop. I am not so sure that he will ever be a solid defender at SS. The Red Sox need to figure that out fast. A substandard defender at SS can wreck a team over the course of a season. It forced the FO to go get Drew this season.

I disagree. You are grasping at straws. I think Fred might be right about this kid. There can never be any empirical evidence to prove it, but the numbers are starting to build in a very ugly way. As for my assertion, that September garbage time stats don't mean much is a concept that has been around baseball for ages -- that Spring Training and September performances are not reliable barometers of performance. Best case scenario for the Red Sox would be for XB to hit 6 HRs in the last 2 weeks to reestablish his trade value and then to package him up and get something in return for him.

What are XB's stats for those situations? Also do those slash lines distinguish between meaningful games and September games after the race is over?