Dojji

Meh. Jury's out on that. An ordinary Scutaro year won't keep Lowrie down long if he starts to hit up to his old level. I'm seeing perhaps a Manny Delcarmen 2007 parallel, let him get some experience and work past his early struggles, go into June in Pawtucket, and then if nothing goes wrong, he'll be back in the big leagues. Certainly he'll be with the team after the Break, unless he gets hurt again. And Lowrie as we've seen him so far in the majors is a substantially better defender than Scutaro, so don't rule out a role reversal. Right, that's why Lowrie isn't my answer to break camp as the utility man. That's also at least partly why the Sox traded for Hulett. Even you agree that if Lowrie DOES get hurt, AND Scutaro sucks, we'll still need to line up Plans C, D, and E.

I started to get offended by that, but then I realized you were probably saying the same things about Jon Lester in 2007, largely on a similar basis -- health problems that really weren't his fault and didn't allow him to display his full talent level. OK, the guy had one injury, it sapped his performance down the stretch last year, and the ramifications carried over into this year. Get over it already. Until proven otherwise, Lowrie still has all the talent he ever had. And we all saw what he could do before he got hurt. If he still has at least 80% of that, we'll be fine. Do you honestly want to tell me that you see no possibility that Lowrie could establish himself as a healthy, effective shortstop this season, that Scutaro could pull a Lugo, and that a combination of these two things could make Lowrie our starter? You really want to tell me that?

Are you a kindergartner or something?

Yeah, I was off a bit on that projection, but ZIPS did have him at .248/.322/.366, which is .688. Since projections of players with only minor league experience tend to err on the conservative side, that's not terrible.

I think it was his projection last year. I'll have a dig. I think that term applies to people who have gotten more than 70 or so PA's in the bigs.

As a middle infield prospect with his OPS in the minors? You betcha he does. I'm not saying the guy should be our starting SS people. This is a utility infielder position. Part time player. What's the harm, when we already will have at least Lowrie in reserve in Pawtucket, with giving a guy with Hulett's MiLB numbers a crack at a roster spot? Sometimes these things DO work out, you know, and Hulett's a better-than-average bet on that score.

He projects to at least a .730, .740 OPS over a full season in the bigs, Dipre. he's done everything a guy can do in the minors to prove he's worth a shot. What exactly is your problem here?

And I have every confidence that Hulett can be better than at least Crosby, Uribe and Greene on that list, probably Green as well. You have to admit, that's not precisely an exacting standard to meet.

Yeah, pretty much. And free agency is a crapshoot at the best of times and with the cast of characters available on the market now, well, I don't really think Hulett loses much in comparison to them. Even if he DOESN'T hit he doesn't lose much.

Tell me, when was the last time Carroll ACTUALLY played shortstop? Answer: THREE FREAKING YEARS ago he started a grant total of FIVE games there. You're right, a strong bench can be very important. That's why it's ABSOLUTELY important that we NOT get Carroll. The guy's a backup 2B and that's pretty much it. I think by September, our utility infielder will be Jed Lowrie. I have no problem going to the bargain bin for the guy who'll hold down the job until Lowrie proves he's ready.

I don't think this takes a lot of thought. I mean, it's a utility infielder. Not exactly a big offensive position. There isn't much to gain from having a great one IMHO. I'd have no problem with just promoting Tug Hulett. I don't think there's more holes in Hulett's game than there is in that of an average utility man. It does have one big advantage over any of the FA's, because Hulett has an option year left. You can send him back down if he struggles and comb the waiver wire for a replacement, or you can get him out of the way if Lowrie can prove he's past the injury problems he's been having over the last couple seasons and take over the role himself. Personally I think Lowrie's at least our future utility man for the next multiple years, and there's no sense spending money for a stopgap there if we already have one on the roster -- that we traded for no less.

I don't see any other really decent utility men on the roster right now, other than possibly Lowrie, who is apparently starting the year in the minors. And he's competing with the Nick Green set for the honor anyway, it's not exactly like we'd be expecting a ton out of him.

Could be Hulett. He's got a half decent mL track record. On the other hand, could definitely be Scutaro himself, dependent on other roster moves or midseason progress from Lowrie. As for the Scutaro signing... blah. Lots and lots of BLAH.

In terms of how it affects the Sox themselves? Probably not that big of one. It certainly does mean that the Padres will know our farm system very well, since I'm positive MacLeod had a large voice in the draft while he was here.

I'm not sure the Angels have the prospects anymore. Especially with Brandon Wood losing a bit of his luster as he threatens to go the way of Dallas McPherson.

BTW -- the article that started me wondering: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/as-royals-had-failed-talks-for-callaspo.html What I come away from that with is that Beane probably saw a sign that Moore might be underappreciating Callaspo with the acquisition of Getz, made a lowball offer, got countered, and tried and failed to bring Moore off his price. What I don't know is what that price is, and whether the Sox might be in a better position to meet it than the A's are. If the Sox are prepared to play Pedroia at SS if need be, that gives us a potential opening at 2B. Callaspo isn't the best 2B in history, but he hits so that's OK and he might improve a bit in his second full year at the position. If he's too bad though, well, Lowell's contract ends next year, so we can maybe salvage it by sliding Pedroia back over, putting Callaspo at third, and finding another noodlebat SS -- or even promoting Lowrie, if he's had some better news on his health lately, and playing him at 2B or SS with Pedroia at the other position. Point is, after this year we have some possibilities, and Callaspo would be a good fit for a number of options depending on how he performs. arguably a better fit long-term than guys like Polanco and Hudson.

Dipre: Not many signs of it, and a breakout year in his age 26 season after starting to really get serious playing time for the first time in his career makes some sense. I thimk most of his uptick is his plate discipline, which he started establishing in earnest in 2008, turning into solid contact at the big league level. Sort of the same process that happened to Kevin Youkilis in other words. All the fundamentals point to it anyway. His BABIP is at .315, which is actually fairly low for a .300 hitter and means he's making a lot of quality contact. That sounds sustainable to me. Personally I don't think his bat will regress much. He might even take another step forward. And if we DO get him, some of those Kauffman doubles are going to turn into Fenway homers -- although I'm not really exactly sure how many. Could hit 15 here, could hit 20, could be less since he's a switch hitter and bats mostly lefty.

Yeah. I mean, if the guy's going to smarm, at least he could try to post an internally consistent smarm.

But none of the guys you can get at FA are longterm solutions, and we're in position that we should be on the lookout for potential longterm solutions at all 3 infield positions, including the two Callaspo plays. As for whether to go for Callaspo vs. Hudson or Polanco? Kinda depends on the price. I mean, if Dayton Moore asks for Buchholz, Bard, or Kelly, you obviously hang up. But if the price starts at Bowden, I think you have to look at it seriously. I like Bowden, I think he's underrated, but for a bat like Callaspo at a premium position, I'll pack his bags myself. Callaspo is a kind of player that can be very useful indeed, since there's a lot of different ways to get him into the lineup. If you're willing to try the Pedroia-at-SS experiment, Callaspo might be more useful than Hudson -- since if Pedroia can't hack it and has to move back to 2B himself, Callaspo can play 3B. Hudson's never proven the same. Not above the AA level anyhow. (this is also a decent argument for signing Figgins over Hudson or Polanco, since he can make the same claim plus add LF and CF to the mix)

Sure I want a Royal, if that Royal bats .300, puts up an .812 OPS. plays second base, switch hits, and is on the upswing of his career. I'll take a freaking Nippon Ham Fighter if he's got a chance to put up those numbers again. This guy has a shot at 20 HR's in Fenway. He doesn't strike out and he takes his share of walks. If he falters at second he can shift to third. He's got Bill Mueller somewhere in his upside comps. Yeah, I'm interested.

OK, what, exactly, was that supposed to be?

Since we're talking 2B's that might be on the market, There's been a rumor or two circulating that the Royals are shopping Alberto Callaspo. Any interest there?

Funny, because like always with Halladay, I have a hunch that he'll take us all for a ride, again, and wind up not leaving Toronto until his contract expires.

I'm worried about Figgins because speedy players with little raw power are prime candidates for early 30's decline and he might wind up an overpaid boondoggle instead of the dynamo we hope he'd be. I could stand a 2-3 year commitment to him at decent money though.