jung

I think trading Youk would be worth it IF as I said earlier, the Sox can come out of the deal decidedly ahead. Try to play me short....no deal....try to go even-steven for Youk....no deal. Be willing to give me enough so that I have without question gotten more value back for Youk than I gave up and we can talk. If the Sox are not "shopping" Youk with this in mind I am going to be extremely disappointed.

With 1,2 and 3 in the rotation still something of a bag of fortune cookies.....crack one open each start and see what ya' got tonight, I am not sure it matters all that much. Beckett has been the most dependable of the three by a long shot and he is not really all that dependable. The real problem is that the opportunity to really get something for Youk has probably passed. However if in fact they could come out of a Youk deal on the plus side of the ledger, then I would be willing to trade him and hand 3rd to WMB. In truth WMB could still be your post season 3rd baseman if the Sox get there. I would likely not be willing to do it if all I could do was end up with one of these even-steven kinds of deals. The only teams interested in Youk are going to be teams that are trying to get to the promised land and have a hole to fill. Youk has come back and proven that he can play. Anybody can get injured and sure Youk has been vulnerable to injury for a few years now and this year's would be the most disconcerting of them. The kind of back issue Youk has is not something that heals. It is something you are controlling for the rest of your life. Fine when not hurting and way not fine when hurting. Anyway teams interested will have a hole that they need to fill. I would have no interest in solving their problem for them unless I can come out of the deal decidedly ahead. I have no interest in an equal value deal. Give up more than you are getting Mr. Other Team GM and we will talk. Try to play me short or even, go waste somebody else's time.

I would rather see them try WMB in the outfield than short. Not playing any pro ball at short means he has never turned a DP at short in the pros. Ya' really want to see guys barreling into WMB to take him out of the DP for the first time in his career here....now??? I would say that I would not have much interest in seeing that. I am kinda' surprised that they have not apparently even tried him in the outfield as yet. He would have to show real comfort at SS for me to have interest in seeing that and at least what I have heard today is not optimistic in that regard.

Sounds like WMB did very poorly at SS. That kills that. I am actually more surprised that they did not explore outfield a little bit. Must mean the Sox don't think he can do anything out there.

I had posted last night that I would sit Agons a bit. He is not doing anything with the bat right now that justifies risking him in RF. It is just stupid to me. Let him sit a couple of games. Maybe he will come back hitting better again. To be honest that is really the right thing to do...a much better idea than playing WMB out of position or sitting him.

WMB is clearly a more athletic player than Agons. Agons is not just a risk in RF he is russian roulette out there. So I like the idea of working WMB out in different positions to see what he has. If he looks awkward and struggling, then I would not put him in that position. However at least working him out to see what he has makes sense.

Interesting that this was the one game where the Tiger's lead off hitter Berry did a fair imitation of Jackson for once and this was the one game that Detroit managed to win. Berry really can't replace Jackson but the Tigers will likely be more difficult to beat again once Jackson comes back.

Valvarde is part of the Tiger's new Aliens development program. Got a guy on Mars now and have clearly got Saturn covered like a blanket.

Kinda disappointing letting these fat kitty's run around on the bases like this. Looks like a hippo stampede.

Youk has done better with the slider since he got back. To be honest I don't know he made that adjustment while he was out. Before he went on the DL he could not have hit a slider if they gave him a boat paddle. But he has not been anything like as bad since coming back. Hope he can continue as he can be made pretty helpless if he can't hit it at all. Also I should add that before he went on the DL it did not seem like he could even see the slider as he was swinging at some pretty bad pitches on top of everything else.

Oh my God they are runnin' the every out, every strike every game ad with Beckett and Lester etc Why don't they just can that thing?

Hey ya get furniture if you hit the ball on the jordan's sign. What do ya' get for hittin' the triple A, a free tow? Geez did that get creamed.

See Punto trying to get outta' the way as Prince came down the first base line...."Holy s***...I'm to young to die".

Yes but the pop out was to the opposite field pumps...clearly that is what matters to AGons.

Catcher is so damn scared that Cook is going to make another ridiculous mistake to agons that he was almost in the on deck circle set up for that pitch.

This clown gave up a real cookie to Agons last time he was out there. Maybe he will do same

Well if he comes out now that was not a bad performance from Beckett...not good either as he will not go out leaving his team with the lead and clearly gave up to many hits. Will not have given up any dingers to these guys. Clearly did not have confidence in his FB and got through the game without using it to any great degree. Remember the start in Toronto after the disaster in Detroit. Pitched a very similar game with few FB thrown. Same deal too. Threw a few FB early in the game. Did not like where they were going and just stopped. He really gets in trouble when he does this and then cannot throw the cutter or the slider or change for strikes at all. Then he is truly screwed cause he has to come in with a FB that he has no confidence in which usually turns out to be a disaster. These days golden for Josh is starts where he has pinpoint control with that 92-91 mph FB. Then his secondaries are being thrown off of that and he is really tough then. Just has not as yet been able to put together enough of them.

Seems like Scherzer's velo is down just a tad but the ball is now exploding at the plate. Funny...he must have to stay in a particular velo zone with his FB to get it to really pop at the plate like that. You can throw 97-98-99 all you want....if the ball is flat you can be had.

Of the Sox top three in the rotation has one of them put a string of three good outings in a row together? I really don't think so. Beckett has probably come the closest. Lester definitely has not and Buch definitely has not. I don't think Lester has even managed a string of two and neither has Buch. Not that it is an easy thing to do but you would think one of them would have put together a string of three starts that are representative for their positions on the staff by now. That said, Doubront has not disappointed even once as a 4 and I think Bard has only been a disappointment once as the 5 so far. Granted expectations are lower for those two guys but they have still done a pretty good job.

s***...Youk looked a little rocky walking back to his position there. Looks a little rocky right now

Jerry and Don are such homers....praising the Sox for having the second most sac bunts in the league when V has already said he does not like the sac bunt and will only do it in the most dire of circumstances (like punto batting). They are mostly trying to bunt for hits according to V and on occasion a sacrifice occurs. I do think Punto was bunting to sacrifice there.

Josh is actually lucky it has not been worse than this....one dinger with guys on and this would be a way different picture right now. Lets face it the Tigers live and die with dingers. That said, I am sure the league has figured that out and is doing everything possible to keep them from going yard. Hard for Detroit to break out and give themselves some distance between themselves and the opponent if you keep them from going yard. To many porkers trying to trundle around the base paths to get anything done without homers.

I have to look at his record against the rest of the league. How the hell can Scherzer still be pitching this way. Does not seem to fool anybody. Has heat but the thing is flat as a pancake coming up to the plate.

Salty is right on this guys FB might crank another out

Well the only difference between this last inning and the one before it is that they hit that junk. However Beckett has been up all night...just not up and in the middle of the plate. I very much suspect that if he threw his FB, it would in fact be up and in the middle of the plate. He stops throwing it when he does not know where it is going and cannot keep it from being up and in the middle of the plate.