BSN07

Starting 9 C- Molina 1B- Laroche 2B- Renteria SS- OC 3B- Beltre 3 OF Damon, Hariston, Jones, DH- Vlad Bench C- Zaun IF- Hariston JR(5th OF) 1B/3B- Cantu or Crede OF Lewis SP Rotation Pavano Webb Francis Young Millwood BP Bonderman- Long man Gregg Fuentes Dotel Soriano Rauch Rhodes

It's a slow time of year and saw that they tried this at MLBTR. Looked fun so I thought I'd give it a try. Remaining FA's to date,

Longoria, Zimmerman, Gay-Rod, Wright, Beltre, Young, and Youk are probably the top 3B in the league overall(I could be missing someone, this was off the top of my head). That's 7/30 of the starting 3B i the league. I think it's safe to say they will be above average at 3B this season. If I had to make a list taking into account offense, defense and age it would go like this, Longoria Zimmerman Wright Youk/Arod Beltre/Young Scuataro needs to start in the beginning to keep his trade value reasonable. Allow Lowrie to ease in and not throw everything in his lap at once. If he stays healthy and is hitting, they can always move Scutaro(decent SS should get something of value toward the TDL) for other needs later on. Next season he can get the majority of the time at SS t start off with Iglesias coming in a few times a week as they ease him in to the ML level. Lowrie in those games ca give the other IF's an occasional breather.

They can still wait until spring to evaluate if he can pitch through the season or not. Who knows, maybe the time off has done a lot for him physically. And again, he's not going to have t go through the riggers of being a SP any more. He's likely to only throw a couple innings a week.

And what dead weight reliever do you plan on replacing him with for 1.5M? It's not like him being on the roster is keeping them from getting Fuentes or someone of note. If the spot is going to be filled with a low salary mop up man, they might as well let Wake try. If he can't, then they can move on. Thee is just no reason to do it now.

Whomever is in the game at the time IMO. He won't be pitching often enough for them to worry about who is picking up the knuckleball behind the plate. He's going to be on mop up duty. They are either going to be up by a lot o down by a lot. Both situations allowing for a few mistakes.SO nothing to fret about.

Am I missing something here? Has he pitched since the end of the season? Has anyone seen any evidence to suggest the last 2 months of rest haven't done him some good? Was he photographed in a wheel chair recently and I missed it? Let's wait until ST at least to debate if he can handle the 3-5 IP a week he will most likely be asked to pitch. He's the 6th or 7th guy out of the pen. No exactly pitching high leverage innings here.

It's all they have to write about this time of year.

The Red Sox have unloaded plenty of players when their primes where up. Wake, Tek and Ortiz for the most part are the exception to the rule.

Besides the Sox are right at the LT limit now from what I have read. If they cut Wake and have 1.5M to spend on a RP, who exactly out there is better then Wakefield at that price? They will be dumpster diving at that point. Only way Wake doesn't finish the year with the Red Sox is if he retires.

Let him finish out the year. He's like the 6th or 7th guy on the BP depth Chart. He's going to eat up meaningless innings. He makes very little money. And given his history with the Sox I would rather he was there then some FA they pick up for one year at the same price. Outright releasing him at this point would be retarded and would make the Red Sox look awful. He makes 1.5M a year. And the ret of the BP is decent. There is just no reason outside of him coming to ST and deciding to retire that he's not in the Sox BP next season IMO. As far as his back goes. He's had some time to rest and won't be called on every 5th day for 5+IP. I'd be surprised if he got 5 IP a week. I don't think his back will have as much of an effect as if he where starting.

It's that time of year. The Sox have made their moves and now the wait is on for Pitchers and Catchers to report. It happens every year here. Boredom stirs up some craziness around here It's one of the reason's I suggested maybe making the 2011 Red Sox offensive predictions thread. But it may be too early to stir that hornet's nest. Too much time to debate without actually seeing any new results. Better hold off and try and stretch it out LOL

The Red Sox roster is filled out for the most part. Is it too early to do offense predictions for the Red Sox next season? Obviously it needs it's own thread, but I didn't want to jump the gun with it.

Iglesias is a masterful defender that will be cheap. The Sox aren't going to just give that up. Why is it every time the Sox make moves all the sudden everyone(figure of speech, not literally everyone) turns into Mr. Yankee and expects an All Star caliber, 15M+ player at every position? The Sox don't need Reyes. They have a great offense already. He isn't going to make it that much better to justify moving the amount talent and big chunks of $ it would take.

I'm not a huge fan of Reyes. especially when they already have Crawford and Ellsbury in the line up. If he wasn't such a health risk, maybe. But I don't see the Sox dropping huge coin on him long term, so I doubt they will trade anyone of note for him.

What is Pedroia's status anyway? They shouldn't let him play until he is 100% IMO. Lowrie could be starting at 2B to begin the season. If Pedroia is ok though, Scutaro will be the main SS to start. I expect Lowrie to be getting AB's at 2B/SS/3B to start out the season. I have always said I believe this may be the bet role for him. It will work well too when Iglesias takes over for Scutaro next season.

He's already going to receive that with Ellsbury. Why not try and provide Ortiz with that advantage as well? Why give it only to Agon? Does Agon really need the extra help?(of course it's nice, but out of everyone in the lineup I could think of a couple other players that could use the advantages of distraction on the base paths more then Agon)? I think the only difference in what you all are suggesting and what I have suggested it's that you want to load the top half of the lineup. I want them to spread it out and create a deeper lineup. Look at it like this, you want the top half of the lineup to be a 10/10 and the bottom half to be about a 6/10. I see my lineup as more having an 8/10 all the way through. In the end it will probably amount to the same, jut two different ways of dispersing the wealth

Half my post didn't go through, I went back and wrote it again and try to explain why I set the lineup the way I did.

But you want him to lead off? I still think he's best suited to be #5. You can't tell me Ortiz wouldn't benefit from having him running around the bases. He's also a good enough hitter to clean up what Agon and Youk leave behind(or Youk and Agon themselves). My lineup(s) take into account both production and maintaining players happiness while putting them in a position to succeed. Ellsbury(Tito wants him their) Pedroia(arguably the best #2 hitter in the game, why change it?) Agon(Your new big bopper right where he belongs) Youk(Excellent protection, plenty of opportunities) Crawford(Cleans up the left overs, reset's the table for Papi and Drew, doesn't have to lead off, hitting in the middle of the order justify his contract more then a LOH.) Lowrie/Scutaro(Continuing the L-R-L pattern, excellent capabilities of moving Crawford into scoring position if need be, and a player it may be ok to take the ba out of his hand and sacrifice, good overall OBP skills) Ortiz(Will be presented with plenty of RBI opportunities, will benefit from the distractions of Crawford/Lowrie/Scuataro. Likely to get more FB mistakes) Then 8th or 9th can go either Drew or Salty.

Ya I posted without thinking. My attention is on football at the moment lol

I'm also fine with keeping him. I don't think there is any obvious candidate out there either. Maybe Montero if AZ was looking to make a big splash for closer. I'm sure the Sox would have eat a good chunk of money. But AZ could value the picks they could collect next off season as they continue to build under the new regime. I suppose, I actually think they could dangle him closer to the TDL, especially if Jenks and Bard are on form and the ox have a real need to fill.