jung

I sort of wish that this Saturday game coming up was a night game. Seems to me that either Sweeney is really much more uncomfortable as a right fielder as I thought he would be or he was just fighting the sun all day on Thursday. If he was not fighting the sun then he was fighting the ball. If he plays every game like that eventually he is going to get do-inked right of the head with a pop fly. Not sure how the heck he has made it this far with only four outfield errors for the career but while the stats may not accurately reflect what a player will or can do, they don't lie either.

Whatever kinda' shot he has been getting must be something that does not numb the thumb or cause him lost sensitivity. Hard to imagine he could throw that well if he could not feel the thumb on the ball and obviously he has already pitched a bunch with it if he has had it for eighteen months.

Yea I thought the early take on V as Manager that he would not bend to the wishes of the FO were unrealistic. His old GM from the Mets days was on the radio the other day saying that in retrospect the part of having V as Manager that he should have acknowledged more that would have helped him, V and the Mets was the fact that V truly has a terrific baseball mind. He acts like he is the smartest guy in the room and many times when it comes to baseball, he is. The two things that were hard to take according to his old GM was that V came on guns blazing from day 1 and eventually regardless of how loud you are, your audience or players begins to adjust to your volume and ultimately you still get tuned out. V never left himself anywhere to go because he was 10/10 right from day 1. So where do you go with your players when you have already been 10/10 right from day one. Nobody has 11/10 in their bag of tricks. The second thing that was tough to take was sort of a management view of the same "problem" V would have with players. V would not dial back on anything ever even when it came to issues that left much clean up for the GM. So if he wanted a player he went to the mats to get that player, fought it out in the media and left the mess for the GM to clean up. If he wanted to do something a certain way, he would go to the mats for that way of doing things, fight it out in the media and leave the mess for the GM to clean up. After awhile all that clean up work left a GM feeling like V was high maintenance on the one end and not really coming up with the goods on the other end. Sort of like saying it pays to be attractive if you are going to be high maintenance. Ugly and high maintenance makes it easy for somebody to pull the plug on you when pulling the plug may in fact not be the right thing for anybody....just the way it is.

I think the only thing I don't like about using Salty as the argument for bringing up Lavarnway is that it sounds like we are institutionalizing the concept of having a truly crummy defensive catcher. Plus I can't say that I have seen enough of Lavarnway catch to be able to state with any credibility that he is where Salty was last year. So specifically in my case, I cannot even say that much. Iggy is a real deal plus defender in a plus defender position and I cannot bring myself to conclude that half a season of AAA hitting experience is suddenly going to take Iggy way past the Mendoza line (.215). So if the prevailing thought is that Iggy gets here by midseason I simply don't know what that will accomplish by waiting other than losing a half season of Iggy playing SS for the Sox.

Funny you should mention guys getting older one thing to consider as you try to rate them 700. I have been wondering all off season if this would be the year that Ortiz "aged" before our eyes. However while I have seen Youk fade in recent years after seeing him swing yesterday he might bear more watching than Ortiz in that regard. Justin V can make a lotta' guys look bad but there is a difference between looking bad and looking like a rusty gate creaking on its hinges. Way to early to make anything like a snap judgement but it might be worthwhile to watch Youk at the plate in the coming weeks. Maybe he will look a bit better as the weather warms. A little warmth always helps us old folks.

If in fact Bailey's injury was as a result of that collision at first with an outfielder in ST I have a suggestion for the Sox whatever their "plan". Find a closer that does not have two left feet!

to be honest I think "elite" closers if you want to put a few in that category are a luxury, not a necessity. By that I mean that if you think you have all the other pieces in place and think that an elite closer is the final touch then maybe you should pay for one. If you have holes elsewhere and a closer wants your first born child.....look elsewhere. Of course if you ask me there is only one truly elite closer in baseball and he ain't Paps. Heck the Phils may well be a team that could convince itself that it had all the other pieces to go all the way and everybody thinks that is why they signed Paps but all of those everybody's.... hell every everybody even thinks the Phis paid to much money over wayyyyyy to much time for him.

It is harder to measure but the Sox ignore undeniable plus defense in plus defensive positions. It is not like guys that are plus defensive SS don't exist. Good luck seeing one in a Sox uniform for any amount of time at least based on history unless he can hit. I don't think Crisp is a good example for the exact reason you mentioned. Crisp was just barely above average in my view and more of a flashy defender (something easier to see) than a plus defender. In addition, the offensive/defense compromise is a little easier to justify in CF than it is at SS. Granted Center is another plus defensive position but SS is the consummate defensive position and one of the few positions on the field where excellent defense is not as hard to identify and should trump offense. Should have trumped it during the steroid era and should trump it now. Lack of range or outstanding range is not that hard to identify at SS. Good hands vs not so good hands is also not so hard to identify. Just watching the Sox SS go through their fielding drills as a group it was easy to identify differences between Punto, Aviles and Iggy.

Biggest long term and ever existent flaw in the Sox approach to baseball team building has been its inability to come to terms with the value of having a plus defender in a plus defensive position in lieu of offensive prowess. You conveniently forget Gonzo who we ran out of town here after one year because he did not fit the usual mold for a Red Sox SS. The Sox in my view were in part let off the hook through the steroid era which made it even more popular to ignore defensive prowess for offensive numbers even in plus defensive positions like SS, the consummate plus defensive position. Now that the steroid era is behind us, the sooner teams adapt to the power numbers we will have and not the power numbers that we had, the better off they will be. In the case of the Sox if they ever do come to this conclusion it will actually be a first as opposed to a return!

Alright...now we can have some fun. I don't believe in any of this Saber-s*** but curses....now we're talkin'.

Thank you UN. Anytime Jackson is irritated, I am smilin'.:D:D:D

I can go with Lester as showing us what he is capable of using his first start as a precursor for the kind of season he can have. Aviles is a stretch. There are reasons why guys become "utility" players. I can't remember any "utility" players suddenly emerging as plus defenders playing positions that are plus defensive positions. Aviles will be exposed over the course of games. The question will be bringing enough bat to the plate to make up for it. I am skeptical on that one.

While it looks like Beckett will start, I thought it interesting that he said his thumb has actually been bothering him for eighteen months now. I guess he has been getting shots for the pain regularly and when it did not respond as it has in the past, he decided to have it looked at more carefully. I am beginning to wonder if most of these guys don't line up in front of nurse that has a chart for each player and the locations for their shots.

Lets not forget that Paps made no bones about the fact that he: a) wanted to test the market, meaning no chance of signing him before he went to FA wanted to set the high water mark for FA closers for total dollars (which I think he did) If that is what the guy wanted to do, that is fine. I can't argue with the guy for taking the money. I can't even argue with the guy for wanting to set the mark for FA closers. Although if it were me, to be honest, that would have been pretty far down my list since in any case I was going to be paid millions. But hey that is what was going to blow his dress up. Paps is Paps and I am me. On the other hand as soon as Paps went down that road in my view he closed the door entirely to the Sox. That is OK as well. It just is. In my view the Sox would have paid Paps handsomely. However the best they would have done would have been something that we would probably all have defined as "the home town discount." Paps was not going to do more than laugh at a home town discount offer. In fact I believe it is our understanding that while the Sox did not contact Paps, his agent did not contact the Sox in an attempt to float the Phillies offer and see if the Sox were willing to beat it. In some ways I think we talk about that deal like neither Paps nor the Sox knew what was going on. I think they new exactly what they wanted to know on both sides. So even given the risk and especially as they relate to closers, I believe the Sox would have paid Paps a great deal of money. However it would have not been close to what the Phillies offered and any team including the Sox, maybe especially the Sox that was not willing to go down that road was not going to sign him.

Honestly I just think it is unrealistic to think about a major league season in terms of no injuries either with regard to the staff in total or to the guys in the rotation. Other than this Bailey thing, the timing could work out for the Sox this year and they might end up OK. Murphy being such a frequent visitor lately....watch.... the staff will be OK and the offense will s*** the bed! As for dealing with Bailey, I started out suggesting Melancon but started to waiver based on the ST he has had. Began thinking more about Aceves. I think I would still prefer Melancon as the closer so that the Sox can still deploy Aceves most compelling talent, the ability to get plugged in just about anywhere and perform. I am so jumpy about Bailiey at this point that when the news flashes talk about Bailey being out for a few months, I am hearing a few years.

Assuming that upper management gave Baseball Operations fair warning that they were not going to spend much additional money this offseason due to the amount of money they were already committed to spend, then my one complaint is that what they did was neither fish nor fowl. They were sort of zigging one day and zagging the next. I would have preferred more of an emphasis on pitching in the offseason and I could have tolerated seeing Ortiz gone as that would have signaled a complete new direction for the Sox and would have triggered a number of changes, changes that I think will be likely to forced to at some point anyway. I am not saying they went into the offseason with no idea what they wanted to do although I suppose that is possible. However, I really do not like these "plans" that seem to feature a bit of this and a bit of that I would prefer they establish a definitive direction and execute to make it happen. I don't think I saw that sort of execution although I have to admit that I am on the outside looking in which could easily contribute to not seeing clearly what they had intended. At any rate the whole season is in front of us and maybe things will work out after all.

August or September.....Geez.....the Sox already had a pretty decent pitching staff on the DL. Now the "DL Staff" has its closer. Wouldn't take much at this point for the DL staff to be better than some team's actual staffs.

Bailey's injury record is sort of unbelievable. I would not have believed that even just a regular joe could have such a varied injury record. It is not like he has had occurrence after occurrence of injury to the same joint or something like that. Borders on snake-bit.

I really don't know if Padilla can or not. If I had to guess I would say yes to twice in a week and no to 3 times in a week. Then again, that was such an incredible (at least to me) performance by Aceves last year that if it turned out that he was thrust into the same situation and that even he could not repeat I would not be surprised. I know that from the relief perspective baseball tends to "reward" closers with its accolades but I cannot think of a guy that turned in the season like the one Aceves turned in either in recent or not so recent memory. Guys have pitched as much but as much and as well....hard to duplicate what he did.

If Aceves closes maybe Padilla becomes the "potential" innings eater out of the pen. Melancon would pitch the 8th inning I would guess. While he is very versatile, that also means Aceves is versatile enough to close an under the circumstances that might be the best way to use him for now. I would prefer Melancon in the 8th with Aceves in the 9th than the other way round. Anyway I have been thinking the V has been considering Padilla a potential innings eater guy anyway.

Did the Sox announce Aceves moving to the closer's role today? I have not been near a TV or radio all day. Posts sound like the Sox made an announcement.

Well if there is one thing that thumbgate shows us (as if we did not already know) it is how tenuous the pitching situation is for this club: Beckett: Our best starting pitcher last year but does not pitch well unless he is completely confident in his heath and we have already had our first niggling injury of the season....great Lester: Should be fine (hope I have not jinxed him) Buch: Has never really proven healthy over his career to date Doubront: Finally appears to be ready to turn potential into reality Bard: a project, one that I agree with but a project none the less Miller: Hurt Maine: please Cook: We may end up relying on him, God help us Padilla: carries a portable therapy couch on road trips Aceves: Might have to close with Bailey hurt...wait a minute...might have to start for Beckett....wait a minute.....Think about how whacky it is to have one guy that might be your closer or might be the starter in the second game of the new season Melancon: May end up being our closer now,,,,yikes!!!! Morales, Albers,....cast of thousands....who cares Bailey: The walking HMO machine I know we are generally trying to be optimistic but does this seem screwed up or what?

And there were many stories in the press that Bard was not "ready" to be a closer. Time will tell but as I said earlier I think he better figure out how to start for his own good. Now if this does not work I will guarantee you that Bard will "say" he now wants to close because for pitchers there are only two ways to really get paid in MLB....start or close. That won't make him a closer either.

I believe we will be seeing Cook at some point this season as well and I also agree that we will likely be seeing more of him than we will want to. I am hoping he improves from where he is now before we see him up. He must keep the ball down all the time. At least at this point, if he is up at all he is throwing batting practice at least to major leaguers.

Well don't pile that all on the Yanks. Joba may have had a bit of "head" start (pun fully intended).