Dojji

Our next 1B may very well be Michael Almanzar. He's finally got his bat going as a 1B/3B in Portland.

I've lusted after Napoli for years, So glad we have him and he's doing OK. There's definitely a level of play offensively that Napoli can get to that he isn't right now.

I don't think it's a good idea to sell low on Ciriaco when Iggy has options.

I think the best part is that there isn't a possible bad opponent left. Either the Hawks or the Kings are worthy of making this a great series and not caring too too much if it goes the other way.

Or if not soon-soon, by next year at the latest. Sort of like the way Ciriaco could have started for a lot of teams in the bigs last year, and we're seriously considering cutting bait with him.

Looks like Dauguvins is going to be given a chance to try to follow Campbell's act. Good luck, kid.

Varitek in 04 and 05 beats Martinez, so he's not in conversation as the best season for a catcher. I can see why people would call that close, but Tek wins on points in 2 of his 3 comparable years.

Beckett and Schill are interesting, but Grove in 36 was still better on paper.

Also there's no reason not to give the last catcher spot to Tek. This is not a franchise with a rich catching tradition. Did we even have a catcher between Fisk and Tek that was above average on both sides of the ball? I suppose Gedman had a good year here and there, and Hatteberg was half decent before he blew out his shoulder but on the whole, we've settled for a lot of subpar catching over this team's history. Pick any of 03, 04 and 05, they were the three best years we've gotten out of a starting catcher in decades. I'd go with 04 because other than homers his other numbers are a little better. Also because it's 04.

Lefty Grove's 36 campaign should round out the rotation. Led the league in WHIP, ERA and walks-to-strikeouts ratio and finished with 11 WAR.

Hoping for the unlikey is fine, says the first and only true Daniel Nava fan. Depending on it is less fine, says a guy who also backed a lot of players who will never achieve what Nava has managed.

Nonsense. Papi and Lowell played their roles and I won't take a thing away from them but a 3 WAR player is a 3 WAR player -- well above average and completely undeserving of derogatory nicknames. Any effort to separate offensive WAR from defensive WAR is an exercise in cherry picking. It's all wins above replacement. The only form of value is not offensive value and attempting to denigrate Crisp's bat in 2007 is an exercise in massively missing the point. You seem to be trying to claim that only offense matters in an up the middle position and you know as well as I do how shortsighted that discussion is. Coco had his career year in 2007, easily, and that's simply a fact. And it doesn't change the fact in the slightest that Ellsbury was by no means brought up to replace Crisp in any way, shape or form. Centerfield was the position of the three outfield positions that Ellsbury played the least -- because no one who wasn't blind, stupid, or grinding an axe would fail to admit that Coco did his job for at least that one year. He was brought up to replace a short term Drew injury and then a longer term Manny injury, and he just kept sticking around after that because he was hitting. That's it.

If I didn't honestly think Iglesias was a mirage I might agree with you. He's hotter than hell right now, but expecting him to continue that level of performance indefinitely is an exercise in setting oneself up for disappointment.

Ellsbury started in left and right field. Did that stop him from being effective in center? Bogaerts coming up and playing mostly 3B won't hurt his chances to stick at short next year as long as he hits and doesn't do anything to put his athleticism in quesiton. People need to be a bit more mentally flexible about "one player one position" and nonsense like that. As for Drew, I've been modestly impressed. The man has done his job for the most part. I have no problem with the level of offense he's provided, it compares very nicely with anything we've gotten out of the shortstop position for years now, and his defense has been very acceptable. I wouldn't mind seeing him back if his price is reasonable. If not, Iglesias and Bogaerts are right there, but I wouldn't just toss Drew aside. He's a very good, talented shortstop and I'm glad we have him.

Holy revisionist history batman. Coco Crap? Crisp was a 3+ WAR player in 2007 and a HUGE reason why the team was as good as it was. He provided more WAR than Manny that year! It was another story in 2008, but Ellsbury didn't debut in 2008, so if you're going to maintain this narrative when Crisp was just this vagrant suckbag begging to be replaced, you have no idea what you're talking about. Ellsbury was called up to play a temporary role to replace DREW, not Crisp. Drew was out with one of his borderline injuries at the time and they needed an outfielder in the wake of the Murphy trade. Crisp had had a fine season in 07 when Ells first got the call, mostly spearheaded by his fantastic defense. Ellsbury then procdeded to make himself impossible to send down, and Crisp proceded to still largely win the battle for the starting CF role throughout the season on his very strong D. Ellsbury found himself slotted into the CF and other OF positions as the team needed him. In fact he played significantly more time in left field (33 games) and right field (22 games) than in center (16 games, only 12 starting). The man was our 4th outfielder effectively for most of the second half after Wily Mo flamed out and Murphy was traded. He was technically the 4th OF in the postseason but played a bigger role in the World Series after (IIRC) Crisp banged himself up against the wall on the last play of Game 7 of the ALCS. It was only when Crisp left in the 2008-2009 offseason that Ellsbury became the real fulltime starting CF -- Cameron notwithstanding. As for a need for Bogaerts -- perhaps you missed it, but Bogaerts has some experience at third base including playing there in the WBC this year. He's got more than enough natural talent for 3B and a number of scouts say that's where he's going to wind up anyway. And we have a bit of a hole there just now, so there is some serendipity to speculate about a potential callup here. It's by no means a slam dunk but don't pooh-pooh the idea entirely.

If he's putting up those numbers in AA over that sample size, the majors are in range, age be damned. They've proven that with Ellsbury, Lowrie and Masterson, and all of those guys have been effective for the most part. If they don't move him up to MLB now it's because they're being cautious. This kid is a prodigious talent and I expect him to be moved to Pawtucket in the next handful of weeks.

If Bogaerts was promoted now I would easily understand why it was happening and would not believe he was being rushed.

Cherington has done a great job of restocking the minors, and I love the direction this team is headed in right now.

If that's the impression you got out of my post I didn't articulate my point well. I wasn't trying to talk about why the Pens lost, simply the impact of the loss. The fact that this has to be fantastic for their confidence (like it needed help) doesn't hurt though. Oh, and obviously, something happened in that game that warranted an avatar change. HUGE respect for what Gregory Campbell did on a broken leg in that game.

I agree with you, but that's what makes this worse for the Pens. They absolutely needed that game, laid it all out there on the ice, and still came away in the L column. I can't envision them even winning game 4 at this point. Frustration and lack of confidence can create a very nasty downward spiral that it would take a phenomenal bit of coaching for the Pens to overcome.

Broken leg for Soupy. The Merlot line is gone. I'd recommend bringing Pevs down to center the 4th line for now until/unless we get Campbell back, and inserting Soderberg into the lineup. His combination of speed and skill would complement the line fairly well. Julien will probably just play Daguvins at center or something.

People keep suggesting that for switch hitters that have a platoon weakness. It worked for Hanley, but it won't work for everyone. It's a different look to see LHP as an LHH than as an RHH, so adjusting can be a big gamble. Nava's a smart kid, though, so I wouldn't mind seeing him try it. That said Nava hit fine from the right side in the minors, and he's shown flashes of success with it this year. He's shown he has the talent to get it done, he just needs to figure out what's wrong with his approach from the right side in the bigs. If that's the last frontier for him, I'm fine with it -- he wouldn't be the first "lefthanded" bat who struggles v left.

Even if you were exactly right, if you picked which half of a platoon was the "starter" you're always going to pick the lefthanded half. The platoon partner who has a crack at 400 at bats on the year is the lefthanded partner because there are far more righthanded starting pitchers (roughly 4 to 1). Not rocket science. So I take some umbrage at defining Nava strictly by the fact that they're pushing Gomes in to hit against lefties. I believe in calling a spade a spade, and I believe that calling the guy who starts in left field 4 nights out of 5 when everyone's healthy "the starting left fielder." I'd feel the same way if it was JBJ instead of Nava (which it could very well have been if JBJ had gotten off to a better start this year) It's expecially comical when you take a serious look at the splits. Gomes is outperforming Nava against lefties by what, .018 OPS? Yeah, that's a real edge he gives us in those big games against CC Sabathia Nava is your starting left fielder, and the only reason they're even staggering along with the platoon is because they are in fact "paying Gomes good money."

That's pretty disputable. Even with Nava's platoon weaknesses, usage patterns tell us that he's our starting left fielder when Vic gets back and the question is how to set the bench up to support him on the right side. Farrell seems to really appreciate Nava's advanced hitting approach, and it's not hard to find a spot in the lineup for a guy with an OBP of over .400 on the season. Now that could change, but reality suggests that that's what has been happening so far.

Over a 150 game sample, Daniel Nava is currently on pace for 20 home runs. Of course he's not going to get 150 games in this year, but he's earned a starting level job on this team, so he might get up to 15-18 this year even if he doesn't improve his pace. And thank goodness he has too -- Gomes has been decidedly mediocre. If Nava hadn't come through we'd have a real problem in corner outfield right now, instead of just an opportunity for JBJ,we may never have been able to send him down and let him rebuild his confidence at all.