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We have plenty of ex-athletes that ply their trade based on their contacts within a team or the league generally. Most of them do a decent job of retaining some level of credibility while they try to establish themselves in what is a new profession for them. Schill is really getting close to trading away his credibility in a way that will make it hard for me at least to care what he has to say. At this rate that video game gig of his better be going gang busters. He says it is but I would not believe it just because he is saying so. I guess I am already starting to doubt him.

Anybody hear Schilling yesterday? Boy I am not the greatest V fan in the world by a long shot but I thought Schilling was just ridiculous. OK so Schill wants to play up his Red Sox contacts as an inside line to what is happening but that is not what Schill did. He took impressions given him by somebody or a group of somebodies on the Sox and drew a conclusion. I guess he qualifies as a journalist as he is certainly no reporter. So I guess it was fair game. However we have that Danny Boy thread going here that sort of complains a bit about Dan. We would have drawn and quartered Danny Boy if he had made the Schill remarks from yesterday. Schills comments were on WEEI and I am sure you can replay them there. I don't even want to repeat them here because I think you have to listen to the thing.

Beckett has been making this transition for at least a year I think and he might have gotten as far as he is going to get.....not quite the transition that Greg Maddux made but close enough for Josh and good enough as well I think.

Sorry I did not mean to be dodging a question. Yes I do think that eventually defense became an issue for this team last year. Notice if you will that it was particularly exposed as our pitching s*** the bed but that does not mean our defense was better when the pitching was better. It was just not as exposed and I am not convinced that they are as good defensively this year as they were last. Does this look like a great pitching staff? It is an above average but not great staff IF there are no injuries to 1,2 or 3 in the rotation. If anything happens to any of those three guys for any length of time this staff goes from above average to below average in a heartbeat.

Fine put Peddey at plus. Still does little to change the analysis of this team's defensive capabilities because they do not have pluses at the most critical defensive positions on the field. In fact they have deficiencies at the most important defensive positions on the field with the exception of Center which is an important defensive position. However I cannot rate Ellsbury as better than neutral with that arm. As I mentioned earlier, V has already announced that all outfield throws WILL be cut off by the middle infielders because none of the outfielders can get the ball home! What we want to turn a blind eye to that? Go ahead! See how many guys we will be picking off at home when every throw has to be relayed. We will be able to pick off turtles and that is about it. That sort of deficiency in the outfield arms also means teams will be able to get from 1st to 3 easier on us and will actually have an easier time around the base paths generally on us, not quite a good idea when you have concerns for your pitching.

I rated Pedroia at plus to neutral because he plays so hard that at times he clearly looks beaten up out there playing 2nd. If Peddey knew how to ratchet it back every once and awhile I think he would always be a plus defender. There are times when he looks like he should be in an ambulance instead of out at 2nd base. He just does not know how to play at anything less than 110% and ya' gotta' love him for it but there are times when he just looks stiff and beaten up out there. At 100% he i always a plus defender. I would love to know how much of the season Peddey actually plays at 100%. I would expect the number is less than we think it is.

We are pretty solid defensively! Holy Molly!!! Agons is a plus defender at 1st Pedroia is a plus to neutral defender at 2nd Aviles is a deficiency at SS and SS is a huge defensive position Youk is starting to fad at 3rd and I would rate him neutral at this point The entire outfield could not throw its way threw a paper bag and Salty....well we have all said enough about Salty and Catcher is another huge defensive position

I have put little credence in the GG for a long time now. Ellsbury winning a GG with that arm is pretty much a sham. CC is a joke in our LF adding more credence to the notion that the GG is a sham. The Sox are so shy of arms in the outfield that V has been relegated to sending the middle infielders out to cut off everything and relay everything on plays at home because nobody in our outfield can get the ball to home! In fact our current SS is probably the only guy that is available for our outfield that can get the ball to home from the outfield. They signed Mike Cameron because he was a name player that fit their marketing ambitions more than anything else and that blew up in their faces. Another one of their Ohh Ahh signings that went nowhere. They have spent a fair amount of money on iggy but if I were a betting man I would bet that Iggy will not actually spend more than a season if that in Boston as plus defensive SS never hang around Boston more than a season unless they can hit. Most disconcerting to me is that the Sox with very few exceptions did not do well against the competition in the era of baseball before the power numbers really started to get crazy. We can look at 67, 75 and 76 as years when they did well but basically they failed relative to the competition outside of those years before power numbers started to go nuts. But they always hit the crap out of the ball at least in their home park. They could not run, were not particularly great defensively with notable exceptions like the Yaz, Lynn, Evans, Fisk years and rarely had enough pitching to do anything. How much does that look like the current Sox? Great offense, sketchy defense and questionable pitching.....just like almost every Sox team I have seen from the Fifties, Sixties and parts of the Seventies. I know I am being particularly critical here but the way this organization functions is beginning to wear on me. Besides I am getting old and cranky in my old age.

I heard something today that really bothered me in the discussion of plus defensive players in plus defensive positions ala' Iggy. One of Boston's prominent talking heads commented that we cannot think of Iggy in terms of guys like Mark Bellanger or maybe the infamous Medoza (responsble for the Mendoza line) because this is not the 1970's. But in fact it is the 1970's only the Sox have not figured that out yet. The steroid era is over. We are going back to baseball that values speed and defense more highly again because we are back to a time when 35-40 home runs will be a lotta' home runs. I was pretty much staggered by the power outage that has resulted almost immediately and entirely because we are no longer in the steroid era. Obviously the era of potential 70 home run performances is way over and everything that is power related is going to be way down from what it was during the steroid era. Lets not kid ourselves and make believe that our precious Sox were not as involved in the steroid era as any other group of players. The Sox better start thinking about players that are plus defenders in plus defender positions the way people thought about guys like Mark Bellanger because that is the kind of baseball we are going to be seeing. Granted, we have the DH now but I suspect we are already seeing a shift away from the kind of DH represented by Ortiz and more and more will be seeing guys in the DH role that are avery day players that rotate into the DH role. It will become less and less likely that your DH is sitting in the 4 or 5 hole every game. Obviously this is my opinion but it is hard to ignore the simple fact that power numbers are in serious decline now that the steroid era is behind us.

As I said earlier the larger problem with sending Iggy down is that: - since everybody expects him back at some point this year, how many at bats do we really think he will get at Pawtucket? I suspect he will not improve at all over the expected period - Since Avilas is really the consummate utility player, injuries will force him to move around and force Punto and his mid-600's OPS into the lineup. Would you rather have Avilas moving around, playing the utility role he is so well adapted to with Iggy playing SS or have Avilas moving around with Punto playing SS? I seriously doubt that Youk will play more than 120 games at 3rd leaving those games for Avilas. There is no telling how many times Pedroia might need a blow whether he is injured or not and then you get to the outfield where Aviles is again an excellent choice to fill in especially if the opposition sends a left handed pitcher to the mound. At any rate I suspect Iggy will be forced up by just the injury dynamic I am talking about here regardless of whether or not he improves his hitting at Pawtucket as Punto is just not the answer when the Sox have to start moving Aviles around. Maybe this is fine. FO gets to save face. I suspect this is as much about the FO saving face as anything else.

If you look a few posts up the comment was made that Ortiz has not exactly lit up the place at the plate this spring. Frankly I think he will be much better than he has shown so far this spring. Not convinced he will be worth the $14M he is getting but I do think he will "bounce back" from his spring showing to date.

I am stuck believing Ortiz will bounce back although I did not like what the Sox did with Ortiz. Now I am stuck believing Ortiz will bounce back because I don't have a choice. Mike Aviles cannot replace Ortiz in the lineup if Ortiz falls apart.

I don't think the line of demarkation between Aviles and Iggy will be the recognizing the plays that Aviles can make but the plays that Iggy would make if he was here. Aviles is kind of stone handed so I guess the balls that get through Aviles will be more obvious than the balls that get by Aviles. But we know Aviles is being chosen for his offense and again I think the thing that will be apparent very quickly is what kind of offensive lineup this is with Punto as the SS once they start moving Aviles around to play 2nd, 3rd or outfield due to injury vs having Iggy in the lineup as the everyday SS and plugging Aviles in where he is needed. That is in fact the best way to use Aviles. Bringing in Punto was the big mistake to me and one the FO seems unwilling to reverse.

Well now starts the Iggy watch. It will be interesting to see how long and under what circumstances Iggy will come up this year. I cannot in a million years believe it will be how well Iggy hits in Pawtucket. He will likely not get enough swings in Pawtucket to make a difference unless he stays down there all the way up to the late season call ups and even then some sort of major improvement on his part is questionable to me. It is just the wrong move for the Sox in my view. If he comes up in June then that is two lost months. So we end up with a utility infielder as a SS because he can hit. On top of that, in Aviles you actually have a very versatile player that can be plugged into a number of positions for a few games and do that job very well. Aviles at SS is a guy you would tolerate there for a few games. Having him be the everyday SS is so Red Sox. While it may not be immediately evident once the season starts how much of a difference Iggy will make, I would be willing to bet that the lack of ability to plug Aviles into so many positions will become evident very quickly. We are one infield injury from seeing Aviles go to third or or maybe second and then we will have Punto at SS. There is a lineup that will scare you. How much of a total lineup difference do you think we will have when Punto is playing SS and Aviles is either at 3rd or 2nd as opposed to having Iggy at SS with Aviles getting plugged into 2nd or 3rd? How many games do you think Aviles could be plugged into 2nd or 3rd or outfield for that matter due to injury? All we heard about is what a great offense the Sox have and in the end it comes down to having to have Mike Aviles in the line up when we spent $14M to keep Ortiz in the line up. An offense that must take Aviles at SS does not sound like a great offense to me. I think the Iggy situation is an unwillingness of the FO to yield on their "plan" combined with to much focus on hitting even for a position like SS. With the historical backdrop of the way the Sox have handled the SS position over the years, I am really concerned that Iggy will never end up part of the Sox plan for the ML team.

I think it will be interesting over the years to see how the newly designed Fenway does actually effect hitters when combined with the end of the steroid era. I even wonder if Baseball et al' has been caught a little off guard by the early results in the post steroid era. I am not really sure Baseball was ready to see how far the power numbers appear to be falling both from the perspective of what it means for the numbers generated during the steroid era and what it means for the popularity of baseball after it. Baseball created all kinds of ways to help improve offensive numbers for a good many years figuring that it would help promote baseball to have it be more of an offensive showcase starting with lowering the pitchers mound. I think baseball purists were happy to leave it as it was but there did not appear to be enough purists to fill ballparks and advance TV ratings to satisfaction. While I do not expect Baseball to reverse its stance on steroids I wonder if Baseball will renew its efforts to improve offensive numbers in the post steroid era. I can't imagine that they would mess with the mound anymore although.....what do I know! Maybe Baseball kills two birds with one stone and convinces the NL to adopt the DL for one. Enforcing something like a more hitter friendly strike zone would seem impossible, at least I would think so. Is there anything more independently minded than the umpire in his role when he is behind the catcher? Anyway I did not think we would see the power numbers effected as quickly and as much as they appear to be and at least based on comments I see, I am not sure anybody was prepared to see such a big difference. It looks to me like we are going back to a time when 35 or maybe 40 is truly a big number for HR's and when you think about where we were going in that regard, that is a big change.

If Crawford does not bounce back he could be the poster child for the category and retire the award for all time.

I guess somebody walked Iggy today for the Phillies. Sure doing him a favor to walk him. Iggy had three at bats today, fielders choice, single and a walk. Iggy nailed somebody at home with a relay throw from the outfield. Lester was apparently very good today.

I think the problem with bringing Lavarnway north is that will not let him catch here this year. They are not going to reverse the plan at this point. Lavarnway needs to catch more and he won't get to to that unless he goes to Pawtucket.

Boy Dick Stuart is a pretty good choice based on the criteria. I have always given him a break for what has now got to be something that is ingrained and embedded somewhere in my brain. Stuart was my first Red Sox baseball card and he looked so damned good in his "B" cap. Might be the best photo of Stuart ever taken. In fact that card became the germ of an inkling of being a Red Sox fan surrounded by Yankee fans as I was living in enemy territory at the time and became a Red Sox fan a few years later while still living there. I loved that card and simply was too young (59 now) to understand how terrible he was at 1st and could not realistically value him as a player. Even today, did not even think of Dick in these terms until somebody else choose him.

If a guy is a right handed hitter it is hard for the Sox not to think about him in terms of that left field wall and how many many many times have we heard about the left hand hitter that can "go the other way" and tattoo the left field wall. In fact I cannot think of a left handed hitter of any import that has come into Fenway without eventually being subjected to some level of scrutiny relative to the left field wall. Every single hitter that has come into Fenway for what is now decades eventually if not immediately is judged against that left field wall. Ultimately there must be some effect on the organization in total because we never end up with plus defenders unless they can also hit. Their plus defense is regularly ignored and is often an afterthought even when it comes to plus defensive positions like SS. Having been a Sox fan for a long time now, I think this is one of the major flies in the ointment as we have rarely had true plus defenders even in the classic plus defender positions. If we get them, they are kept around for a year.....maybe.... and sent packing unless they can hit. So to me it will be very interesting to see what happens to Iggy for a career as he is not in the classic mold of players that stick with the Sox.

I don't know for a fact that he will not climb to 250 in the majors but the Sox stopped grooming him to improve his hitting substantially long before V got here. The point is that they should not wait for him to improve his hitting when that is not how he is going to earn his keep anyway and they need him now. If they really wanted him to improve his hitting they would have left him in AA where the opposing pitchers are generally developing apace, mainly developing their secondary pitches. The Sox decided not to do that and as a result exposed him to the possibility that he would never really hit anything because he is has never seen anything he can hit! He has not hit in AAA. What a surprise....what a shock! I think based on performance, expectation and the road the Sox have taken him down, Iggy can climb above the Mendoza line and can likely even stay there for a career if he is handled properly. He does have decent straight line speed and should be able to leg out some infield hits and lay down a bunt for a hit on occasion. I also think they should bring him up now because V is one of the few guys in the Sox organization that knows how to appreciate him and help him improve. While I am not the biggest V fan in the world, V might be the one guy that can actually help Iggy continue to develop as a major league SS. He is one of the few guys in the Sox organization that is not enamored with that damn left field wall and that knows how to use a plus defensive SS. It just so happens that V is also our ML Manager.

As much as we might want him I don't think the Sox will open their purse strings for Oswalt. The guy is a walking injury time bomb and we already have basically the make up of a pretty good pitching staff on the DL. Don't think it will happen. I am not even sure at this point they will resurrect the $5M offer from earlier in the off season.

Aviles has had a great spring "against Laffey". As I said in another post if Mike could hit against Laffey for a career he would be going to the HOF as a result. The Sox have had Laffey in two of the last 5 games (I think, maybe 6 games) and Aviles has pounded him both times. The point is I don't think Aviles plate performance would be that impressive without seeing Laffey twice in the last 7 days. Over the course of a season. Iggy's defense would turn out to be more valuable preventing runs especially for this team, than Aviles offense combines with his defense. His range is not adequate for a SS and I hate the way the Sox have regularly taken utility defenders and plugged them into a plus defensive position like SS (probably the consummate plus defensive position) just because they can "play" the position without tripping over themselves and they have a plus bat. Iggy is never going to climb to 250 in the majors. Get over it and get on with it. We are past the steroid era and it is time to stop thinking about every hitter in terms of that damn left field wall!

You know things are ugly when we start hoping Cook is going to bail this mess out. Cook needs to start the season in Pawtucket and if he does not fall apart there, come up when the first inevitable injury happens to one of the first 5 guys. I do like his presence on the mound but the fact that we are thinking about him at all says more about the degree of concern we have for what we have seen so far. Based on what we have seen I don't think there is a way to deny Doubront a spot in the rotation at the start of the season. I can rationalize just about anything else they decide to do although I have made it plane that I think Bard will get his shot based on a number of factors. Virtually everything we are discussing is a reflection of how nonplussed we have been by what we have seen from this group and then bouncing that off our expectations for pitching in the AL East. If the Sox had gone into this looking for one guy out all the riffraff that they brought in and had not gone pocking around in their bullpen for help that would be one thing. However looking for two guys out of that was always going to be very tough. That is the road they went down and here we are. On the bright side, dice seems to be coming along thankfully. Just make sure your seat belts are fastened because it is going to be a bumpy ride.

Agreed.....the media is saying that V is making Lavarnway one of the guys he is trying to get up here this year. I actually do not think even half a season back at AAA is enough in Lavarnway's case. I think he will have to stay at AAA for the entire season or at least up until the September call ups. V's position regarding Lavarnway is the best evidence we have that V is just a wee bit to focused on getting a result this season regardless of considerations even as near as next season.