Dojji

Because the same one, maybe two people won't FREAKING DROP IT.

And Scutaro will still bat second ahead of Crawford. Given the choice between two underperforming veterans Tito will play the guy who's gotten the job done for him in the past. That guy, at the moment, is not Carl Crawford.

I meant "go down" as in "get hurt." Like as in, even if Pedey isn't in the lineup the guy who bats second is not Crawford.

NWIH will Tito EVER bat Crawford second. Seriously, I'm not joking here, Scutaro bats second over Crawford. Reason is simplr -- TIto goes L-R-L-R when he can get away with it. Since Pedroia has currently given you ABSOLUTELY NO reason to play him anywhere other than second in the lineup this whole thread of conversation is a bad joke, but even if Pedey goes down, a righthanded hitter or a switch hitter (Lowrie?) will be your #2.

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So I take it you have no interest in Garza? The Cubs are only "cursed" with weak ownership and poor franchise management.

He's not that far off his normal numbers. A decent second half gets him back to his usual range. I don't think he's underperformed that much for the Cubs. He's on an 200 inning pace with an ERA in the low 4's. That's really not terrible.

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I'm sure the Cubs will get many years out of Garza, whose velocity is apparently fine. Look, the Cubs traded for him, he's in his mid 20's, he has good stuff, and he eats innings. Also as one of the biggest markets in the NL, you can pay your peeps. If you're the Cubs, how anxious are you to give him up for any price only one year after you make a deal for him??? The Cubs clearly have every intention of trying to extend Garza. They aren't trading him.

Cubs are absolutely not interested in moving Garza.

Since I was about 10. Dad tried to make me a Padres fan, since that's what he is, and I flirted with the Expos for awhile because they were good when I was getting into baseball, and in Northern Maine I could get the CBC broadcasts. But I live in New England, and the Sox were there. I have to say I wasn't really rabid until about 2006 though. I was kinda in and out, watching when it was convenient. I only picked 2004 up in the playoffs because I'd watched the 2003 team and was convinced that the curse was still right there, going strong. I'm still kinda detached from the team sometimes. It's harder than I'd like it to be to love a big money machine at times. I think it was seeing the team vulnerable in 2006 that actually made a fan of me. Nothing much to root for in a stately, nearly-predetermined march to the playoffs when you're a fan who remembers things called "pennant races" that were a really, really big deal at one point.

I think you're selling him a little short. This isn't a guy who's had a conventional track to the majors. He's only been in development as a pitcher for a couple years after all. He could still improve easily enough, at least for a couple more years. No denying that his window to crack a big league roster is very narrow though.

Nevermind Jacko. He's a Yankee fan, and it's past obvious by now that what he's doing here is putting out the kind of sabotage he wants us to do to ourselves and wishing reeaaallly hard that it made sense.

Having a pretty good year in Pawtucket, very old to be taken seriously but he was converted very late and has a half decent fastball with some movement to it. Possible useful bullpen depth if we need it. Just thought he deserved a couple props for his good year in Pawtucket. If he keeps it like this we might see him in September with an eye towards possibly cracking the roster next year. It's not like converted position players can't stick despite being on the old side Right?

I think that Salty is a Theo's Lust List guy, and he won't be moved as long as he proves himself adequate. That tightens the noose around Fed-Ex, Lavs and Tek.

The old bird has cheated the reaper again this year and seems to have adjusted to playing part time. He's putting up respectable numbers both offensively and defensively, especially for a 39 year old catcher. My question is, after this year if he keeps his numbers somwhere in the .750 range, do you move on or see what he can do at 40? Personally I kinda think the guy needs to be a Red Sox for as long as he can play, as I think it would be very hard to do better than him for a backup catcher just in terms of experience and preparation But on the other hand we do have some young catchers whose upside intrigues me, especially Federowicz and Lavarnway, both of whom need to start cracking the roster in the very near future, and Salty's probably ready to be a fulltime starter by the end of this year. But on the other, other hand, Varitek is the ultimate veteran catcher, he's been everywhere, and seen everything, and Salty could possibly use his presence for another year. So I'm torn. I certainly do hope that Varitek stays with the organization when he retires, whether that be the end of this year on in years to come. He's the most iconic Red Sox catcher since Fisk, and he might have Fisk beat on longevity with the organization. And I think that if he stays in baseball Jason Varitek is going to be a brilliant coach and manager. I hope he's Tito's successor when his health forces him out of the league. Goodness knows he knows the sport better than probably any other current active player, so I hope the Sox get this right and keep him here in some role indefinitely.

His defense from what I hear is adequate and improving, but his technique is a bit awkward which casts some doubt on hiis defensive ceiling. A lot like guys like Piazza and Posada who kinda had to do things their own way. It's certainly not like he doesn't have the tools. He has the arm certainly, and he's athletic for a catcher. I'd love to see him make good in Boston if it's in the cards, and if not we're going to have the DH spot open fairly soon so he can do the Mike Napoli thing if that's more his style. If the best Lavarnway could do is be Mike Napoli, that would make me very very happy. Had a mancrush on Naps and his power for years now. He and Salty sharing catching duties would have been awesome.

Let's let Crawford actually get the job done in the bottom of the lineup before thrusting him into a role right off the DL. It won't kill the team to verify that Crawford is ready to not-suck before putting him in a position where he has the choice between not-sucking or the team going into the tank.

You have it backwards, Palodios. Weiland made a couple bad pitches in that second inning -- the one to Lee wasn't great -- but Scutaro allowed 3 of those 6 runs with various plays and decisions he made at least partly because of the weakness of his arm at short and his inability to execute three different throws. The defense as a whole is good, don't get me wrong, but you're wrong or lying if you want to claim that our shortstops are up to snuff in the arm department, especially Scutaro, who never had a great arm to begin with and is fighting through an injury that reduces his arm strength further. And for no good reason it came to a head in the second and Scutaro really got exposed. Not really anyone's fault, just a weakness that you have to recognize while analyzing that inning. 3 different grounders to short in that inning that could have been outs for a guy like Iglesias or Navarro who had a proper arm at short. We get those outs, Weiland gets through 5 allowing at most 4 runs.

Lowrie is Tim Naehring. Talented, even awesome, but can't stay on the field consistently.