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All right time to pull the plug for today

I'm not sure he cracks top 10 probably in part due to being a 1B where offensive production is expected more. He was around top 40 to begin the season and his success at a very young age at advanced levels could land him a spot in the top 10-20.

No kidding, it's unbelievable how reactionary people are It's all about "what have you done for me lately" around here

The whole Jed Lowrie foot thing seems like a convenient excuse for putting Cora in the lineup.

There are currently two spots open on the 40-man roster and neither Bowden nor Zink are currently on. Zink just pitched on Friday so I doubt they start him on 3-4 days rest. Looking at the schedules I'm guessing it will be Hansack who would be pitching on full rest and has been going deep into games for the Pawsox.

Bowden may make the spot-start

Lars went 1/3 with a double and a walk in game one. In game 2 he is 2/2 with two doubles and another walk

Francona said they don't want to overload him down the stretch and wanted to get the bullpen guys some work.

I'd also like to bring to attention, 20 year old infielder Yamaico Navarro. In 86 AB for Lancaster he's at .372/.396/.593/.989. Very clearly helped by playing in Lancaster (1.199 OPS at home, .797 OPS away in small sample size) but he's hitting High-A pitching pretty well.

He is pitching decently considering he's in Lancaster but in reality he has a low chance of making the majors. He's already 25 and only in High-A relying mostly on deception which is probably going to have trouble translating into the higher levels.

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Bowden in relief tonight (Colon started the game): 6.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Good for you, but like it or not he is the fifth starter (notice how he isn't the ace or anything). By and large he is the best pitching prospect to take the mound for the Red Sox in over a decade and instead of toying around with him by constantly putting him back and forth on the Pawtucket shuttle he deserves a chance to get things straight here. He already pitched in AAA for a large portion of this season and dominated those hitters, he needs to learn on the job and as long as there is a fifth starters hole open we might as well fill it with someone with potential. Bartolo Colon isn't walking through that door and if he did he'd be fat and injured. Three MONTHS ago I didn't trust Jon Lester to do anything and now he's one of the best starters in the AL. Maybe some people don't get it but for every Hanley Ramirez and Pedro Martinez who instantly comes in and succeeds there is a Jon Lester and Greg Maddux with tremendous talent who take some time to adjust.

Not that it'd ever happen but I'd kill to have Russell Martin

and he makes you look like more of an idiot

he wasn't arbitrarily handed the title "top prospect"

Name recognition?????

While pitchers normally operate around a league average BABIP, many of the leagues best hitters consistently hit quite a bit above league average, particularly the guys with speed like Ellsbury. (04-08) Ichiro: .399-.316-.348-.389-.325 Crawford: .322-.325-.331-.374-.296 While he's not going to consistently have a .380 BABIP, I'd expect it to be higher than it is now. Ellsbury's LD% is at 21.7% which places him pretty high in the AL and LD% generally correlates pretty well with a higher BABIP. I'm not in favor of sending him down. Clearly he is in a big funk right now but I think a little time off would be a better solution. While not perfect, imo the stats indicate he has the ability to play at a higher level than he's currently demonstrating. He actually has a 3.4 WARP so he's not completely unproductive.

The individual player threads aren't really updated too often in between big events. So I'm making this thread to just give periodic updates on some of the prospects (I also post these on another site). August 3rd 2008 Update SP Bowden (AAA) - Getting hit around a bit, but his BABIP is extremely high and his K/BB is very good. 15.2 IP, 22 hits, 0 BB, 13 K, 5.17 ERA 1B Anderson (AA) - Holding his own in AA, not a whole lot of power just yet though SSS. 36 AB, .306/.395/.361/.756 OF Kalish (A) - Very high potential, completely destroyed SS A ball last year before injuring his wrist but is performing well, not much power yet either. 320 AB, .294/.389/.372/.761 OF Lin (A) - The futures game MVP, left team to play for Taiwan in the Olympics MR Bard (AA) - Impressive strikeout numbers, walks a bit too high as of now. 37.2 IP, 27 hits, 19 BB, 46 K, 2.63 ERA SS Gibson (Rookie League) - 18 year old 2nd round pick in 2008 off to a very nice start in his pro career. 45 AB, .311/.429/.422/.851 SP Piminetel (SS-A) - 18 year old international signing a year ago, played in the Dominican Summer League and has been playing for the Spinners this year. Has very good potential, from reports his curveball and change-up look like they have very good potential. 42.0 IP, 34 hits, 11 BB, 44 K, 3.00 ERA

What's with the CC avatar?

That's BS, Manny signed a contract with TEAM options NOT player options. The club has every right to exercise those options if they want to.

His BABIP is extremely high right now, but the 13/0 K/BB is encouraging

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