Dojji

If they saw Scutaro as a starter, they wouldn't have shopped him. That little soundbite came back only after the "Sox are shopping Scutaro to Team X, Y, Z" rumors didn't turn into a trade. Of course they're going to affirm Scutaro as a starter, for the sake of his trade value if nothing else. It's an empty statement, especially in the offseason when we don't have relative season performances to compare. If Lowrie is radically outperforming Scutaro after a month of play, the roles will swap. Tito isn't stupid, he'll give his team the best possible chance to win, no matter who that happens to be at the moment. We'll see who's starting at SS by June. Besides which, can we just be blunt here? Scutaro's health is in question. A mid 30's middle infielder with back problems is a bigger concern by a lot than a mid 20's infielder with 1 lingering wrist injury and a bout with mono. I don't think Scutaro is really a "safer bet" in any sense of the word.

I'm cherry-picking a little, taking the offense from this year and the D from 08 which was when he last played consistently at SS, but he's not that far from achieving that potential, and I honestly believe he has the ability to surpass it. Why not play it safe? Because there's more to gain than there is to lose. If you take that risk and it pays off, you have a puncher's chance to have the best SS in the American League, especially if Jeter does NOT rebound. Maybe even if he does. Point is the competition for offensive shortstops isn't precisely stiff at the moment and Lowrie can probably lay claim to the title with an .800-.850 OPS, 12 HR kinda year, which we already know is something he has the talent to do. Besides hitting better than Scutaro when healthy, Lowrie's also quite a bit better defensively. Even if he doesn't have the kinda offensive year I'm projecting, Lowrie's no slouch as a defensive SS and could justify his role on that basis with a ..700-750 OPS and still be one of the better all-around SS in the league. The standards are that low right now, a chance to overshoot those standards by as much as Lowrie could if he has a great year should be seized with both hands.

there is technically a downside, if you play him and he gets hurt, you've lost your shot at a darn good 3 position .800 OPS bench infielder, which are hard to find and very valuable. That said, an .800 OPS shortstop is even more valuable, and this is not a team that ought to be afraid to go for the brass ring. A Jed Lowrie hitting and defending up to his demonstrated ability is among the best SS in the league, especially given the shallow competition and low standards among American League shortstops at the moment -- it's a chance to really put ourselves ahead without making a big trade and should be siezed on that basis.

Conceding Martin's SLG obviously, I can't fight that one, but the fact is that of the two OPS components, it's more critical to maintain a high OBP than a high SLG. Martin is right there among the better OBP catchers in the league. Considering he'd be a FA and one that isn't in a position to command mucho dinero, that's a fairly nice package.

I was only put on notice about Tenace because of MLB.com's great moments in baseball history thingee. And yeah, he deserved more attention than he got. Sort of a Jack Cust type, except a C/1B instead of a 1B/LF. Solid player. Not a superstar, but still the kind of guy you want 9 of in your lineup.

And if Lowell had been in his mid 20's when his hip has gone are you honestly going to stand here and tell me he'd have had anywhere near the complications that he had in his mid to late 30's? Furthermore, the surgery was only a secondary reason for what happened to Lowell. Loss of mobility in general cost him his career, and that was coming on hip or no hip. That's not a big problem for Martin, seeing as he can play positions other than catcher and first base with some effectiveness and can run the basepaths. That's even ignoring the fact that there's a huge difference in expectations offensively between a catcher and a freaking corner infielder. Again you're relying on a very shallow analysis and a couple comparisons that don't stand up, and you're ignoring some very positive attributes in order to do it. Bad form, buddy.

They don't play big, they try to play smart. If smart means big move, they make the big move, if it means wait, then they wait. It all comes down to where they see the team being.

He's young enough to recover from that hip, and he's an interesting player in a late 20's Jason Kendall kind of way. He's exactly the kind of player I thought they'd be going after when I saw the team had let VMart go. A guy who could probably start and not kill the team if Salty can't but isn't so likely that Salty won't get a chance to win the job for himself.

you knew this team preferred OBP without power to power without OBP long before you learned the team liked Martin better than Olivo. It's telling which teams Olivo keeps playing for. Cellar dwellers and also-rans. If there's such a thing as a "winning player" Miguel Olivo isn't one.

Take a look at WHERE those points are distributed. You don't need ungodly power out every position. Martin's always worked the count and kept his OBP high even when his power suffered. Combine that with reasonable defense as catcher and OPS/OPS+ really doesn't tell the story of his value IMHO. A guy in a defensive position who at least keeps his OBP high can be excused a lack of power, especially when he defends as well as Martin does.

I'm not claiming he's any kind of slugger, but he put up a .350 OBP and I like his chances to improve on that. I can understand wanting a surer thing, but I don't consider the likes of Kearns to fill that description.

Heh. Yeah yeah I know, it's never going to happen, but one of these days I wish someone would get brave enough to experiment with an IF/RP and if they did, Hall would be a fair candidate. 89 in the zone isn't half bad and he hit his spots for the most part. Showed a glimpse of what he coulda been if his development had carried him in the other direction -- which considering his struggles with consistency since 2006, maybe it should have done.

... or you could promote Nava, count on him to improve on what for a backup was a fairly solid rookie campaign, and save 7.7 million to go and load the bullpen.

In other news, sugar is sweet and water runs downhill.

Already have 2 RHH on roster as possible backups depending on how you count the switch-hitting Nava. Between him and Cameron you're not smtarting for backups. Atchison is already re-signed. 10M for 3 RP's should be doable. Also don't forget that Junichi Tazawa is probably in the mix next year if you need a cheap option.

Works better if the idea is to start Martin and play Salty as a bench C/1B. Then you have all your positions covered and can fill all 3 empty slots with RP.

Agreed. Let's get a guy who can play SS if Lowrie can't, but let's not obsess over his health, he's probably more likely to be fully healthy and effective next year than Pedroia is all things considered.

I'd rather have a veteran catcher to pair with Salty. Paps, Bard, Doubront and Atchison are already on the roster, and we're probably going to bring back Oki on a lesser deal. We only really need one setup arm, the other can be just about anything, especially of Prince Felix takes a step forward as a reliever next year. Don't be too surprised if Junichi Tazawa emerges from the grave as a guy the Sox have in mind to fill that last spot. Between Tazawa and Doubront, that'd give us some length in a coupleyoung pitchers with decent relief stuff. Perfect middle relief fodder with some long term upside. Add a Downs to that and you're golden.

If they clear Cameron, Nava becomes probably the ideal backup OF, especially if you can also bring back McD. Between the two that's a solid reserve outfield situation.. Between McD, Nava, and whichever of Lowrie or Scutaro isn't starting, we'd be pretty set -- especially if you remember that Jarrod Saltalamacchia has 1B experience.

4-5 mil will get you Martin no problem. .

OK, simple question: How do you take this lineup as currently constituted and make it even better? Simple answer: Make a deal with the Mets for Jose Reyes. We have Iglesias to replace him, he's fallen out of favor with the Mets brass to the point he might actually be acquirable, and a Reyes trade is one of the few moves that you would consider parting with Kalish over, although I'd prefer not to. And he will put us over the top from "really good" to "ridiculous." With Crawford, Reyes and Ellsbury headlining the team speed, and nice secondary baserunners like Pedroia and hopefully Martin, this is not a lineup that can be stopped by conventional means. Can't stop them, can't hope to contain them. With good contact hitters like Pedroia and Youkilis in the middle and lower middle of the order, all that speed is going to turn into runs. That's a lot of speed, and a lot of runs.