I am in total agreement with you on his tools especially his speed which is very good. I just think that when he is likely not going to play in Boston until likely late in 2007 why waste the roster spot when you are not forced to put him on the 40 man roster.
Jackson the sox likely will not waste a 40 man roster spot on Ellsbury when they don't have to. He's very talented and as I said earlier he is likely to be ready by mid to late 2007. Murphy will be the outfielder they call up if he is healthy since he has been hurt. Ellsbury does not have to be on the 40 man until after the 2007 season per MLB rules.
When you hit at every level like he has its hard to keep someone down there forever. He will likely stay in Portland for a month or 2 and make the jump to Pawtucket. You don't keep good hitters like him lagging in the minors forever. As I said he will be ready by the end of 2007.
David Murphy
Alejandro Machado
Adam Stern maybe
Jeff Bailey
Dustin Pedroia maybe but they might not want to use a 40 man spot on him until after the year
That is exactly what it is. Regarding Belt going to a JUCO. If this is the case then he likely might have an agreement with the Red Sox just not for 2006. It's likely the Sox want to put him on the 2007 draft budget so they can go after Lars Anderson and Matt Laporta. To me Bard will eventually sign but more likely a 2007 contract as well.
There are rumors that Brandon Belt is going to a community college instead of U of Texas which would be huge for the Sox. That would make him a possible DFE candidate.
I'll trade a bit of OBP for someone who is more feared than Nixon. WMP is the better player than Nixon. It is that simple. Yes Nixon got hurt. It happens. But the Red Sox have a player playing right now who is better than Nixon and who should not go to the bench when Nixon gets back. Should Tom Brady have gone to the bench when Drew Bledsoe got healthy?
He couldn't drive the ball when healthy. Pena should be this teams everyday rightfielder from here on out because he is the future there not Nixon. Pena has shown he can handle the job. WMP has more HR already in less at-bats than Nixon.
Nixon fits in on the bench. Coco and Pena are the future of this team and they should be playing right now in the pennant race. Nixon really didn't do much before he got hurt anyways. He could be a good pinch hitter though.
It all depends on how things shake out in a couple years. Let things play out first. But there would be no doubt I would take Wells patrolling centerfield.