Dojji

It's only about the level he was hitting at before the injury started taking a toll on him from the left side.

Believe me, I've done worse here.

I don't think you can label him an injury risk just because he's been hurt. I think you need more information to draw that conclusion. I am nervous about Lowrie's health too, but it seems like he basically had one really big injury, not a bunch of little ones where "injury risk" is a fair label.

UZR/150 at SS 2008 24.6 2009 32.0 That's over a total of about 60 games -- not a negligible sample. I'm not saying he won't regress over a full season, but this is a legitimate, starting caliber defensive shortstop here, to put it mildly. Add to that that he's a switch hitter with .280/.350/.420 offensive potential easily when healthy, psossibly as many as 12-15 HR's a year in a good year too. This guy was a rival with Pedroia for talent both in college and in the minors, and was viewed as a similar ceiling of prospect before he got hurt (and of course, before Pedroia exploded). He still has every chance to at least get to the benchmark I set in this paragraph. UTILITY man? Well, maybe if he keeps getting hurt, or if we get hold of Hanley Ramirez somehow, but if he ever gets healthy and stays that way he'll be a worthy starter in his own right. I say a fair ceiling for him is John Valentin if he can stay on the field. May be a bit optimistic with Valentin's career performance in 1995 to his record, but the overall career arc is something Lowrie could potentially manage

Lowrie's defense at SS has been consistently good when he's been healthy enough to be in the field, although I'm not sure his playing sample rates a "consistently." In fact he's looked excellent at SS defensively in both samples we have for him at that position, so if he can live up to his offensive potential this Spring, I'd have to say he has an advantage in winning a job. Scutaro is a veteran plugin until some young SS claims the prize. Personally my money's on Lowrie, since he's got the best chance of being a 2-way SS. I'm certainly not writing off Iglesias though. There's something to be said for elite D, as long as Iglesias doesn't pull an Argenis Diaz.

The Finns are starting to play a bit vindictively, especially Ruutu running Miller. We can't let Miller get hurt. Get Thomas out there for the third.

Could we see Thomas?

Finland needs to rally bigtime to avoid this becoming a complete laugher.

Wow. Just.... wow wow wow...

America cannot fail to medal now!

Actually Lowell's played somewhat below his career in Boston level if you take out the 2005 outlier, 2007 was the only season he had here where he played up to the peak level he demonstrated in 2003-2004 in Florida. In particular, Mike Lowell's homers were way down. Imagine that, a man known for righthanded power doesn't hit a lot of homers in Fenway. Must be because Fenway's not easy to homer in even for RHH. That's OK though, he hit a ton of doubles to make up for it.

Jacko was being Jacko, but he had a point this time. Beltre *is* coming off shoulder surgery after all. That's a thing that has been known to impact performance the following season (see 2007 Drew) Thos whole thing is tangential to the point of the thread. What brought this whole massive digression up was my statement that beyond any concern about performance, you have to go easy on Beltre's playing time, which meshes nicely with the need to play V-Mart at first for about 30-40 games to keep his bat in the lineup without wearing his knees out. Then of course Dipre goes exothermic on us but there's nothing new about that, so we move on. The point is that it's entirely reasonable to ease a guy back in who's coming off a bad year, two injuries and a shoulder surgery, and between Lowell, Youkilis and V-Mart this shouldn't be a problem. Also between those three, it won't be a fatal situation if for some unforseen reason Beltre DOES flame out.

That's right, we will be in the market for a 3B won't we? Think Jeter's got the arm?

Thanks, Jacko, but we didin't really need the obvious to be rehashed yet one more time.

What other dirt dog were we supposed to compare him to? Troy O'Leary? Brian Daubach? Shea Hillenbrand? Reggie Jefferson?

You just lost your license to call anything I say about anyone, ever, "overoptimistic." The HR's and doubles aren't COMPLETELY insane, but no way he manages a .340 OBP.

Sure, and that's why Lowell was a definite "question mark" when he was brought in as a salary dump from the Beckett deal. At the time we had depth lined up in case he couldn't hack it, and Lowell had to PROVE in 2006 that he could return to health and effectiveness. why not apply the same standard to Beltre?

What is this even, Dipre? You've been foaming at the mouth every time everyone anyone suggests that a guy who hit .265/.305/.379/.684 last year might not light up the league. He had a rotten year, he's coming off a surgery, he's got more miles on him as a professional ballplayer than Mike Lowell has, if this guy had been a Red Sox last year we'd have been all for moving the guy along, why does he get a pass?

Worth bearing in mind that the US and Swiss were both "playing to not give up the big goal" all night. Their strategy most of the game was obviously more to keep the Swiss out of their end of the ice than it was to make the goal light go off, and it's telling that that's exactly what happened. Puck control and offensive zone time were the major points of contention for both squads, rather than goals and assists. I guess the US was trying to answer questions about how badly the Canadians outshot them. If they were, it worked but I was pounding the arm of my chair and screaming at the Americans to get someone, anyone in there and screen the dang goaltender for most of the game. Waaaaay too much time spent puttering around playing catch and taking long, unscreened shots along the outside of the Swiss zone that had realistically no chance to go in. The US didn't score until they finally, FINALLY put two men on the goaltender in the early part of the third and put themselves in position for some second chance attempts, and the goal happened because Hiller lost sight of the puck as a result.

That's a fair take from Jacko. Frankly, I wouldn't mind throwing both of them over and going for the original plan I wanted, a mid 20's HR hitting 1B and let Youkilis take third. The Sox FO though seems to think Youkilis is more "a 1B who can manage adequately as a long-term 3B backup" than "a 3B." That being the case, and given our total lack of young 3B prospects that have any chance of cracking the roster, id probably makes sense to take a look over this season and next offseason at young 3B's we could acquire in trade. WARNING: TRADE SPECULATION TO FOLLOW. All the vibes I've heard in Kansas City suggests that there's kind of an odd relationship there with Alberto Callaspo. Trey Hillman put up a preliminary "first draft lineup" that had Chris Getz at second, not sure what that was, maybe they don't think he can hack it at second, maybe they were just trying to motivate him, but there's some definite friction between Callaspo and KC right now when you'd think the last thing they'd want to do is alienate their second-best hitter. Seattle's already picked up the phone a couple times if the rumors are to be believed but so far Callaspo isn't for sale. If Callaspo shoots his way out of KC somehow, I wouldn't mind at all taking a chance on him at third, where he's looked good over a SSS. His bat played like Bill Mueller's last year (as did his glove at second lol), but I think he could carry himself at 3B offensively and I think Callaspo is a natural 3B.

Would have thought it blindingly obvious that the most appropriate person to compare Drew to was the person who preceded him at his position.

You realize that that line is better than most of Trot Nixon's seasons by a considerable margin. Only in 2001 and 2003 did Trot Nixon, probably our vision of the prototypical #5 hitter, actually outperform JD Drew's average career performance. And Nixon did a lousier job of staying in the field than Drew does. This is a team with a lot of money. the most I expect of a guy we're paying a lot of money to is to be measurably better than the guy who came before him and well above average on the whole. Drew gets both check marks.

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