jung

Even if DeLaRosa were to start 2013 as the 5 I would suggest that would not be a good sign for the Sox 2013. Then again, it might not matter anyway as there is much to be done that might be difficult to get done in 1 year. Unless something unpleasant happens (injury or something) I would hope to see him as part of the 2013 September call ups. If the 2013 rotation is a disaster and he is cutting up AAA, then we could see him before September in Boston. If everything went well I would expect to see him in the 2014 rotation at the start of that year.

Well I think a strong 4 is what he would be right now. So saying that is what he would be suggests that what we are seeing right now is what we are going to get. I still think he will improve from here. However I cannot get him up past a 3 as he would need to pass Buch at this point to be a 2 and I don't see him passing Buch unless he revitalizes himself quite a bit.

He took Iggy out in the middle of an at bat. It does matter if Iggy should be here or not. September call ups are rarely guys that should be "be here". If they should be here, they would be already. There was no point to make. Even if Nava got a hit there, which he did not, the Sox were better off in this lost season allowing Iggy to complete the at bat than pulling him in the middle of it. Pulling Iggy in the middle of it, did nothing positive for the Sox and might contribute to any number of things that are not positives for the Sox as an organization. We would even argue that winning this specific game would do nothing positive for the Sox. Even Salty came up behind Iggy sitting in front of V and gave him a pat on the back, knowing Iggy would have difficulty with such an odd move. He can't hit, at least not yet...big deal...like we can't see that? Moves like this are the downside to keeping V around when it would appear impossible to bring him back next year.

V is just going to far now. He has just pulled Iggy from the top of the 7th inning of the Sunday Jays game with two outs and a 2-2 count on Iggy and pinch hit Nava at that point, with the 2-2 count. Ciriaco had just stolen 2nd so had moved into scoring position. However these games are meaningless. I actually think V just did himself more harm than good. Pulling Iggy at that point was idiotic. Nava immediately ground out to end the inning.

Wish I had seen more of this game. Lester must have pitched pretty well it would seem. Lavs seems lost at the plate and has seemed lost at the plate this entire stint up here.

Lester has been wild in the strike zone and wild outside the strike zone. His mechanics have been screwed up. Took him awhile to get to this point and will likely at least take an offseason to get back I would think.

Correct Pal. Although I think somebody made a general comment about minor leaguers making something like $75K which was the original error I believe. Then some folks ran with that and started applying that figure to specific cases. Unless guys have a contract or a signing bonus that results in a different deal, they are making pretty close to nothing unless they ARE on the 40 man roster which this specific guy is not.

As feeble as Iggy has looked, Lavs has just looked ridiculous.

Once more Ells cannot throw the ball from shallow CF and get it past the pitchers mound making this the second time this year and the third in the last two years that he has bounced the ball off the pitchers mound trying to throw home....has no arm at all.

I would not expect to see De La Rosa until the 2013 call ups if then. He won't be anywhere near ready to be in the rotation at the start of 2013. That LA gave up pitching prospects in "the deal" is ridiculous to begin with. Even they are not whacky enough to give up ML ready pitchers for the start of 2013 one month away from the end of the 2012 season.

It is up a few posts in the thread. $78,250 is the league min for players on the 40 man roster but not the 25 man roster. Some folks initially thought it was the min. for minor league players, I am assuming they might have thought it the min. for AAA minor leaguers. That is not the case. Guys not on the 40 man roster make like $2,150 per month in season.

Pedey back thank God....solves the "who will bat 3rd" riddle.

Lester does not fall to a 4 but I don't think he is a 1 or a 2 either. Buch would be the 2 in a proper, solid competitive rotation. Lester would be a 3. The 1 would be a ????. Lackey might slot into the 4 or maybe a 5 depending on who else was part of the rotation. Lester could work his way past Buch again but I do not any longer see Lester as having the potential to be a 1 in a truly solid rotation.

Glad we got the win on Friday night....draft picks or no. It did remind of something that I have felt all season long though. There have been no easy wins or certainly very few easy wins for the Sox this year. Every game they have won has been a grind it out struggle, even with all the "big guns" they had at the beginning of the year. But when you can't pitch worth s***, nothing comes easy. You either can't get ahead or can't stay ahead and just can't score enough runs to win. Here they are in last place fighting tooth and nail with the team one place ahead of them. I just hope the Sox are done scratching itches that have little to do with winning. They and we should have had a belly full of that.

Kraft probably thinks MLB is to poorly run for his taste. Would likely take a few massive reforms for him to be interested.

Well I have not put any thought into this one at all but at a guess, given who they have left and especially with Pedey not playing right now, I think V just has to many K machines to choose from. I would not put Ciriaco there as much as I really don't like Aviles. I would not put Nava there as he is to easy to overpower and if the choice is Nava or Aviles I would take Aviles at this point. I would not put Gomez there as he is better slotted farther down...even 4th is better for him than 3rd. Who else....Ross would have been a good choice against left handed Laffey but again much like Gomez you would "maybe" prefer Ross a little farther down the order. Lavs....might have been a good choice but I guess I would have put Ross there before Lavs. Who is left.....Loney...not against a LH starter. I guess if I were choosing, without Pedey, I would have put Ross there against a LH pitcher. Correction: Ross has way more K's than Aviles has on the year. So I think V was stuck with Aviles tonight.

The Sox have not really relied on Mortenson in high pressure situations. The Sox have been very careful about where they have used him, often bringing him into games that are for all intents and purposes already lost. Of his 20 appearances, 14 were in games that the Sox lost yet with only one exception, they were not lost during his stint. So the Sox brought him in to eat up some innings in low pressure situations. Hey it is a job that somebody has to do. However I do think it is interesting that the Sox have not really brought him into many situations where the game could either be won or lost during his stint and have continued to use him similarly through the entire season even after he had established a record of success in the low pressure situations. I just don't know how much you can value a guy that is being brought in to eat up some innings in games that are already lost. Either they continue not to have much confidence in him and continue to use him as they have or they should explore what he can do when the pressure is on. If they don't explore what he can do when the pressure is on that is sort of a statement itself I would think.

I don't think you can look at any of the more recent pitching moves as anything more than trying to throw stuff against the wall to see what would stick with the usual results. Some of it sticks a little, some of it does not stick at all...little of it sticks very much. As for moves made before this period of garage picking, I always thought that dice for example was another of these PR motivated personnel moves, not trying to pander to some Japanese fan base but pandering instead to the interests of fans that enjoy sizzle, are attracted to the novel. the unique move. The dice package included the posting fee, an interpreter, the limousine service built into the contract, all of that extra ******** that made him an "interesting" choice. Sox management hoped we would ohh and ahh over the Sox far reaching, outside of the box, process for finding pitchers that would slot into the top of the rotation. Yea' that worked! I thought Lackey was another sizzle move. Lets go right to the top of the list of FA pitchers in this given year and take the guy that is there whether he is right for us or not. I would have thought that both of those pitching moves, particularly Lackey were moves that Bill James would not have liked thinking about recent comments about James and his lack of involvement in recent personnel moves. Not sure how much input James would have had regarding dice but I don't think he would have liked bringing Lackey here at all.

Iggy is so tiny I am surprised that did not break bones

Jenkins is just the kind of guy that is tailor made for Nava. Nava is a patient hitter that will wait for something he can handle and drive someplace. RH pitcher Jenkins can't overpower my grandmother. Perfect situation for Nava.

I think Nava gets this bum right here.

Walking Iggy has got to be the biggest pitching mistake in MLB. He has not proven he can hurt you with the bat under any circumstances. Even if you groove one to him nothing is likely to happen.

I just thought I would post to ask...I thought I might have seen a 3 run Lavs homer. Did that actually happen or am I hallucinating?

Maybe the Sox can do something with this bum this inning. I have gotten real sick of seeing cannon fodder Laffey beating up on the Sox. Guy should be cake.

More embarrassment for the Sox. Two WP in a row scores runs. I think we are seeing the absolute end of dice in the ML. He is all over the map. His motion is all over the place....seems to be trying to muscle up on the ball....I have no earthly idea why as he is not going to blow anybody away no matter how much he muscles up to throw.