a700hitter

What a difference a year make! Last year, we had everything fall into place. This year is the opposite. We had a rally going and Happ was on the ropes and XB hits a bullet that the third baseman dive for and gets a DP. An inning or 2 later we were tuning up Happ and Ortiz crushes a ball for the last out in one inning. Then we crush the ball some more and Farrell fails with a bunt with Ross. Then we crush it some more and he bunts and fails with Holt who had been hitting the ball hard. The first bunt down 4 runs was hard to comprehend, but bunting in the 8th inning down 3 runs was really baffling. Can someone explain that one to me. We should have 8 or 9 runs.

Doubs is blowing.

Eric Kratz was a nice pickup for the Jays.

Scutaro

Brentz would be the only option.

I guess that Middlebrooks will be the other part of that platoon.

Sign J.D. And we are set!

Exactly, and the Drew signing bears out your theory.

Yep, half of the plan has been implemented.

Red Sox To Sign Stephen Drew By Steve Adams [May 20, 2014 at 1:48pm CDT] 2:44pm: Drew will play short for Boston, tweets Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, which of course means that Bogaerts will shift to third. He will go directly onto the active MLB roster but spend a week or more getting back up to speed in the minors, reports Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter links). (As Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains on Twitter, Drew has to join the active roster because he signed a major league deal.) The team “back-channeled” with Drew over the course of the season, and met with him at least once in April, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Ultimately, the signing came together within the last two days, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com (Twitter link). 1:48pm: The Red Sox have reached an agreement with Stephen Drew, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Drew is getting the pro-rated version of the qualifying offer ($14.1MM) on a one-year deal, meaning that Drew will be paid roughly $10.17MM. Drew is represented by Scott Boras. Drew’s value this offseason was weighed down by a number of factors. He rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer last November, meaning that any team (other than Boston) that wished to sign him would have to forfeit its top unprotected pick. Additionally, there were a lack of teams that were willing to spend and had a clear need for an upgrade at shortstop. The asking price of both Drew and Boras likely also weighed on interested parties. Boston appeared to be a ready to move on from Drew and go with a left side of the infield that included Will Middlebrooks at third base and Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. However, Middlebrooks is hitting just .197/.305/.324 and is on the disabled list for the second time this season already. Bogaerts hasn’t excelled with the bat as they’d hoped, hitting a solid but unspectacular .269/.369/.379. The bigger issue with Bogaerts, however, has been his glove at shortstop. Though he’s made just four errors, his range has been below average, and both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved feel he’s played well below-average defense. Boston likely expected to receive a compensatory draft pick to go along with their youth movement, but the fact that Drew clearly wasn’t going to sign elsewhere prior to the draft presented GM Ben Cherington with two options: sign Drew now or see him sign elsewhere while receiving nothing in return. Given the club’s deficiencies on the left side of the infield, the Sox opted for the external upgrade rather than hoping that their young infielders would heal up and pick up the pace at the plate. Drew, 31, enjoyed a nice bounce-back campaign with the Sox in 2013, slashing a solid .253/.333/.443 with 13 homers in 501 plate appearances. He played solid defense at short, per Ultimate Zone Rating (+6.7 UZR/150), though Defensive Runs Saved (-2) wasn’t as big of a fan. The Red Sox loved Drew’s glove at short, however (particularly in the playoffs), and his ability with the leather was enough to keep him from being platooned despite a .196/.246/.340 batting line against southpaws. While this is hardly an ideal scenario for Drew, the fact that he won’t be on Boston’s roster for the entire season means that he’ll be ineligible to receive a qualifying offer next offseason, which should improve his chances of landing a strong multi-year deal considerably. Of course, he’ll also face steeper competition on the shortstop market than he did this past offseason and will be coming off a shorter season than if he’d simply signed earlier in the year. Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy, Jed Lowrie and Asdrubal Cabrera are all set to hit the open market following the 2014 campaign. Drew is the first case of a player waiting to sign until after the start of a season to avoid a qualifying offer the following year. Kyle Lohse and Ervin Santana came close by signing in Spring Training in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Kendrys Morales figures to wait until after the draft in order to avoid such an offer and shed the draft pick that is currently attached to his name after rejecting Seattle’s qualifying offer last November. Boras has used the troubles of Drew and Morales to voice considerable displeasure with Major League Baseball’s qualifying offer system this offseason. While many will be quick to point out that Boras has a clearly biased take, MLBTR’s Zach Links spoke with a number of executives earlier this spring, and even they agreed that the qualifying offer system was advantageous to teams. We at MLBTR even predicted a four-year deal was possible for Drew in spite of a qualifying offer. Morales, Lohse, Santana and Nelson Cruz are examples of additional players that have seen their value likely diminished by their attachment to draft pick compensation. Ultimately, Drew cost himself roughly $4MM and two months of playing time in order to shed the possibility of being saddled with a qualifying offer again next offseason. If he’s able to land a lucrative multi-year deal, it’s still possible that he could come out ahead in the long run, financially speaking.

He's having a hat mad from pine tar rags.

In my post, I was suggesting a new face from within the organization -- either Cecchini or Betts.

Do you think that a new face at 3rd and an OF bat are good ideas for immediate action items?

I am a little surprised that there is so much conversation about throwing in the towel on 2014 and looking to the future. More surprisingly, is that quite a few of our more glass half full members are expressing these ideas. I don't think that we are to that point yet. I'll wait until the trading deadline before I get on board with that. This is the right time to assess this teams needs and to try to address them if possible. We need Buch to pitch better. This teams fortunes are in large part tied to him turning it around. There is no way to address this need. We need Victorino on the field everyday. There is no way for the FO to control that either. We need one of the kids to start hitting. There is something the FO can do about that. I would leave Bradley and XB in place so as not to disrupt the defense. With Middlebrooks on the DL again, I would experiment a little. I'd get Cechinni to see what he can do with his bat and give him a crash course in fielding at the major league level. Boggs was a butcher at 3rd when he came up. If they really want to be aggressive bring up Betts to play 3rd. He may be exactly the type of spark that this team needs. Lastly, we need another reliable bat to play the OF. They can do something about that. IO don't know who is currently available, but there is always someone who is not fitting in with his current team for one reason or another. That is what I would do now-- not at the trading deadline. It might be too late at the trading deadline if we wait. Bring up Cechinni or Betts to play 3rd on a trial basis and get an OF bat. Reassess at the trading deadline.

Are we the Marlins? Win a Championship and the following season sell off all of the guys that got you there. How about a little patchwork to make the team competitive. It wouldn't take a lot.

Part of the offensive problem is definitely Bradley. He brings something else to the table with his glove so they should look to upgrade offensively elsewhere first. The likely spot to upgrade right now is third base, especially with Middlebrooks on the DL for the second time this season.

This would be worth a try. I'd bat Pedroia 3rd and Ortiz 4th.

I could see this as a stop gap to Cechinni.

People may have found Kruk annoying tonight, but I think that he was right on with his assessment of the two teams tonight. The Tigers look like a well-rounded juggernaut. We don't look like we belong on the same field with them, and the results of this series gave a strong indication that we are not competitive with the Tigers. He also pointed out that last year we got some career years from guys like Nava. Carp, who was discarded by a terrible Mariner team, was also a key contributor. He pointed out that last season our LF position was the most productive in the league (using several different platoons). This year, Nava's Joe Hardy-like deal with the devil has expired and Carp is floundering around. We are getting nothing from LF, CF, or 3B. We are barely getting average production from SS and Catcher. The other 4 spots are just not enough to carry a consistent offense.

Great point.

I think Buch has to turn it around, We need Victorino to stay in the lineup, and we need another bat.

A loss tonight would give us our first 4 game losing streak since 2012. We need to avoid losing streaks to tread water and sty close while we are waiting to gell.

5 runs given up by Peavy. We can't win when our starter gives up 5.

You have got to be kidding me!! A line drive back to Anibel that he catches like an ice cream cone and doubles Vic off 3rd. Jeesh!!

Stupid decision by the 3rd baseman. Still 1 out and bases loaded. Let's capitalize!