Dojji

OK so we've officially identified the level below Dojji type -- the TLev type.

Mexican Leaguers.... joy. Wilton Veras flat out sucked in our minor league system and there is nothing to indicate that a second chance is warranted. "tearing it up" to a the tune of a .791 OPS in AAA level competition doesn't impress me. Besides, he had his chance

We would not be satisfied with Kotchman at 1B no matter how good the D was. I wonder if Lowell could play 1B.

Shhh. Green Sux is the party line around here, better not to rock the boat.

I'm putting the over-under on hits fron the bottom 4 in that lineup at 2.

No it isn't. Not unless you just turned it off for Gonzalez and Huckaby in '06 or for Mirabelli and Lugo in the first half of '07. i understand the frustration but exaggeration helps no one.

we used to chew through infeilders on a very regular basis at just about all positions. Before Pedroia, the last time we had a franchise 2B might have been Jody Reed, the last time we had a franchise 3B? Wade Boggs. Not that we didn't have talent cycling through those positions on occasion, but that's exactly what it did -- cycle through. Come, play awhile, maybe do well, maybe bomb, and then go. I think there are two big reasons to be upset about the whole shortstop thing. First, it's just about the last position standing as a problem. We have solutions at hand for the immediate future for all of the other infield and outfield positions, plus catcher, that are locks or near locks to produce at an acceptable, above average level Second because this SS drought follows a period of 10 years where we got it right at shortstop. Nomar, and John Valentin before him, made SS our strongest single position through the Pedro era. So used were we to good players at SS that what we're churning through there now is shown up even worse by comparison. I think the best attribute to display here is patience. We've solved and survived other revolving doors on this team, most notably first and second base. We can do so again.

In other words you want to blame Theo for not finding a long term solution at SS but you have not even the faintest, foggiest, remotest of ideas who he might have obtained that would have been better than the guys he DID obtain. In other words, this falls under the "Just Grousing" category. I'm sorry, but I can't take this seriously unless you name, if not the one he had to get, at least a group of SS he could have gotten. I'm sure Theo agrees with you he should have gotten a better SS -- if he could actually find one that was a fit. If you can't find a specific player he should have gone for then all you're doing is complaining for it's own sake. Which is, you know, fine, but don't expect the rest of us to take that particularly seriously.

Keep going though. As many as we can. I'd love to score Luke Bard.

Fine by me -- but be aware that if the standard is that the least of his flaws be defense, you've described Nick Green.

Kinda, yeah

I just don't see any reason to take this thread seriously. Kid had one bad outing while he's still stretching from relief to starting, big whoop, especially with that defense behind him.

get ready, because here come the snakes. SSS SSS SSS SSS

He's faked it pretty convincingly for about 5 years then. His arm is pretty mediocre but he does have decent range. We're not going to get the cream of other teams. Anyone you acquire is going to have his share of flaws. Young has fewer of them than most of the guys you can get. Play him at short for a season and if that isn't good enough for you slide him to third when Lowell goes and move on to the next solution. is it possible that part of the problem Theo is having getting a good SS is because OUR standards are too high? .800OPS shortstops don't grow on trees, but before the whole fiasco with Nomar in '04, we'd been treated to some excepional shortstop play for more than a decade, between Nomar and his predecessor, the underrated John Valentin.

Basically there's no particular reason to bring up Tulowitzki and the Sox in the same sentence unless you're talking about the 2007 world series. The shortstops we're most likely to sniff around on in the offseason are Jhonny Peralta and Michael Young. Both might be available and both would represent large upgrades on what we have right now. Of the two, my preference is Young, since he's a Gold Glove winner with good average and power who we might get for a reasonable haul of prospects because of his huge contract.

The trolling-to-content quotient is swinging towards "Ban Him" again.

We're all frustrated with the SS ordeal, Theo probably more than any of us. No one likes churning replacement level players through a team when they're trying to win it all. Bearing in mind that Theo nearly resigned over the trading away of Hanley Ramirez, are you guys ever going to suggest ANYONE who would actually have solved the problem well enough that Theo's actually culpable for this mess? or are you just going to grouse?

Not a lot. Sporadic homers are part of the package. They're sort of accounted for. Now let him go on a 1.000 OPS tear or something ridiculous for a month and a half and then he buys himself probably a full year next year in case it happens again.

So in other words, you're just generally grumpy about the course of the team and the troubles shortstop is just an excuse to rant. Fine, I can deal with that, but don't go pretending it's something else.

I only saw one guy that we even potentially could have gotten who would represent enough of a sure thing that we should deal anything of consequence for him -- Jhonny Peralta. And we have no idea if the Guardians have any intention of listening to offers for him.