Dojji

It's a point worth pondering, it's certainly a very unusual trajectory.

Open pot. Stir vigorously.

Some day I'll figure out just what the heck all that was. Not going to give it a high processing priority though, so who knows, it could be years.

I'm sorry, when were we supposed to start caring about what A-Rod thinks again?

Solid confidence.

Going with Ellsbury. I'm not too worried about a resolved health issue and Crawford has some platoon issues -- he may easily wind up sitting more than Ellsbury, with Cameron taking his at bats against lefthanders. BTW a .350 OBP isn't pathetic.

"SHUT UP" 04 (not "4," "04")

No it's not. He really doesn't have to develop that much to have utility as at least a bench player in the very near future and his contact has been improving steadily each year since he entered the league, despite advancing rapidly and being very young for his level. His hitting discipline has been steadily very good since 2008 and his contact is catching up. I'm not saying he's gonna become a superstar, but becoming a solid below average to average starting caliber CF in the next year and a half is not that unfathomable. The guys you're comparing Lin to were college guys who had more years of amateur ball at a better level of competition than Lin. I don't think it's that unfathomable that a guy who puts up at bats of the consistent kind of quality Lin has done picks up a bit of power as he hits his mid 20's, and since he sees the ball well and is heralded for having very good batspeed I really doubt the AVG will ever dip seriously below .270 again. For a young guy who hasn't really filled out yet, he does a good job at the plate and I see absolutely no reason not to project improvement there considering he's exhibited steady improvement each of the prior seasons. And I still stand by that Juan Pierre comp because if it wasn't for the fact that if we have Ellsbury and Kalish we'd be ETA'ing Lin about the same time Pierre debuted -- the latter third of his age 22 season. In all likelihood the guy's probably tradebait, but he's good tradebait, of a kind that can actually fetch quality assets. And for a laugh, I will point out that he's one of our only high minors RHH OF prospects, so his chances to get to the bigs earlier than next year aren't THAT farfetched.

I stand by my assertion of a Pierre comp and believe that it is reasonable. Lin has that kind of speed and has picked up a lot of polish very quickly for a Taiwanese signee. His defense is also far better than Pierre's. It'll come down to him making a little progress in the contact department, but the guy puts on very good at bats so it's hard not to see where it come from IMHO. And sure, when Pierre entered the minors he was also more polished than Lin. Like Gardner he was a pick out of college, not an international signee, and his growing pains happened by and large in amateur ball while Lin has had to do a lot more growing as a pro. When I comp to Pierre what I'm looking at is age of readiness and similar tendencies statistically at the plate (speed + limited power + good plate discipline). Since there's no such thing as a perfect comp, there are some distinctions, but I consider them less important than the similarities atm. Also Lin has played one level higher than Pierre did at the same age in his short minor league career. Food for thought.

Agree. I don't think there's any real reason to fix what works here, and it's not like we were dumb enough to put the franchise in a position where we have to force a rookie who was dominant in the pen, into the rotation because otherwise we don't have 5+ starters. Ahem.

I'd still lay the money in favor of either the Cubs or Mets TBH.

Would definitely be interested in a Lester type extension. http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/this-just-in/2179831/buchholz-eyes-lester-type-extension FanGraphs is on board. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/giving-buchholz-lesters-extension/ I am too. As a starting place for discussion, Lester's extension sounds right, and I'm glad the kid is willing to be open about his desire to stick around. A lot of players like to keep their cards really close to the vest on whether they want to stay or go.

The best shape of Joba's life is still A: more of a circle than a square B: not as good as the worst shape of Bard's life. Those are facts.

Lin's speed is plus caliber. He's not quite in Ellsbury's or Crawford's league, but he's easily the third fastest player in the Sox system. And would probably be THE fastest player in most other teams' systems. Gardner stole that many bases largely because he was on a different trajectory. He was a college pick out there to prove that NYY needed to take him seriously. BOS already takes Lin seriously. Once again we get back to the fact that Gardner was far more polished when he hit the NYY farm system at age 21 than Lin was when he was signed as a 17 year old. Lin is at the same age now than Gardner was when he was playing in A-ball. And again, you're trying to take a very specific comparison and try to stretch it out as if I was making a broader point. Why do people here keep trying to do that anyway? Comparing the two straight up, like you try to do AND I TRIED VERY SPECIFICALLY NOT TO DO, just doesn't work. The fact is that there is a type of player out there that doesn't hit for much power, focuses on getting on base, plays centerfield, and tends to lead off. If you don't like using Brett Gardner that's fine, I can use about 6-7 other examples of varying effectiveness. The ur-example of this group of players is Ichiro, I hasten to state I don't think Lin is going to be as good as Ichiro but he's sort of the archetype. The ideal model if you will. The whole point being, he doesn't have to do much more than bat .270 and keep working the at bat the way he does to be useful offensively as a starting player, and even if he can't even do that, he's still valuable on the bench. I'd say Lin's median outcome at the moment is somewhere in the Juan Pierre range. Could go up, could go down. For some people that's a good player, for some it isn't. It's a question of what they value.

Why bother when you can just sign him in the offseason? I'd certainly send Kalish, Lin, Pimenetel/Britton to STL for him though. That kinda deal should at least display good faith and get a conversation started.

And I think enough things can go wrong with a Bard conversion that you don't jettison an at-least-average veteran in his prime in order to experiment. Relievers get linked to possible moves to the rotation constantly around this time of the year. Once in a great while it even happens.

I don't care, I'd find a spot for him. It can't be that hard. Heck I'd play Youk at catcher if it meant Pujols in the lineup. No matter where you could possibly put him, his defense is made up for by that bat.

There's factors to Bard that Joba doesn't have actually so I'm not so worried about that. For one thing, Bard is fitter and healthier. Still, he was last seen in a starter's role being absurdly ineffective in A-ball so that raises a red flag.

He was also a college pick rather than an international signee like Lin, and is old for his leve while Lin is very young. In fact he was as old when he was drafted as Lin is right now playing in AA ball. Gardner was an example of a certain skillset in the majors that Lin might wind up with, that's his only relevance to this thread. And for the record, no he didn't. He was solid at it, but he wasn't an excellent contact hitter. He was what Lin is trying to become -- a "put up a good at bat, get on base, and run" type. His relevance here is that players of that type can be successful.

I dunno guys, I recognize that there isn't a lot of present power there, but the guy has elite wheels. I don't see why he couldn't at least become a Gregor Blanco/Brett Gardner/Scott Podsednik type. With his speed in the field and on the basepaths that's all he'd really need to be. And that OBP is hard to argue with as well. There's a whole category of players with no power who play regularly in CF because they can get on base and run, and those are his best tools. Bout all he needs to do I'd say to be a productive big leaguer somewhere, is get it over the third baseman's head with regularity and learn how to be a good dink-and-dunk singles hitter. His raw speed is a match for Ellsbury's according to what I've read and seen out of him, or nearly so. Easy 40-50SB speed in a good year at any rate. He has the right build to be a fairly one-dimensional but solid leadoff CF type. If we didn't already have an at least slightly better one with some proven MLB experience more people than I would be talking about this guy in that role. This guy will see big league playing time. A player with his ability to put up a good at bat and his baserunning speed, plus the D, that's an attractive package to put on the bench -- at least. He's young for his level so I don't worry TOO much about tools, he should pick up at least some gap power as he matures physically, and the other stuff, the more advanced fine-tuning stuff like working the count, pitch recognition, bat control, stuff that Josh Reddick might not ever develop, Lin already has that in spades. He's just waiting to fill out his frame with a little extra muscle and learn to square the ball up a little more -- a kid who can put up a .380 OBP with no power in the high minors can't be missing the ole sweet spot by THAT much. Frankly I'm actually excited about the kid, if not as a Boston player, then as a trade piece to a National League or AL West team. He's got a bit further to go, but it's all in the physical maturity department, not so much actual ball skills. And he's already ready to play as a LIDR and pinch runner even if he takes no further steps forward -- which at his age, level of development, and level of skills refinement I consider highly unlikely.

Yeah Jenks is a big fella, probably contributed to his decline over the last couple seasons, hope he's effective this year.