rjortiz

I don't think it's that tricky. LF - Nava/Gomes CF - Ellsbury RF - Victorino Bradley continues to be groomed for Ellsbury's spot in 2014 at AAA. If Gomes continues to tank, maybe they try Brentz as Nava's platoon partner. They could also explore a trade. Denforia could probably be had for cheap. Regardless, it's a pretty good problem to have.

Sorry for the confusion. My mistake.

I still can't find a replay of Iglesias's play.

I misspoke. When I included both Iglesias and Middlebrooks, I was trying to imply that Iglesias doesn't have the bat for 3B, and Middlebrooks doesn't have the bat for 1B. I think they have maximum value playing their natural positions.

WMB is hitting .201/.234/.408 right now. I hope he turns it around, but I want to see better results before I pencil him in at 1B.

Heat pushed to Game 7.

I think 1B has a higher offensive threshold than 3B. I wouldn't mind WMB at 3B, but I don't think he should be our first baseman.

I don't think Middlebrooks and Iglesias have the bats for the corners. Where does Bogaerts fit into these plans?

Description of Iglesias' play? Keeping up with my phone.

Daniel Nava murders right handed pitching. Anyone got a current OPS for Nava against them?

I stand corrected.

Is Carp injured? I can't think of a reason to see Gomes as a defensive replacement.

I might be wrong, but when I first started watching Red Sox/Yankees games, both teams had lethal lineups. This Yankee lineup, 5-9, is awful.

Stephen Drew is not going to get any better. Although, I wonder if his OPS would be higher than Iglesias, even if Iglesias managed to hit .300.

Vernon Wells is in a major slump right now.

I hope Doubrount is thinking to pitch around the Yankees first four hitters, and pitch to the bottom of the lineup.

Looked outside

How many teams think they can seriously compete at this time of the season? I think 12 can be classified as sellers. It should be 14, but the Angels and Dodgers aren't going to sell. The Dodgers will probably land Cliff Lee for the rest of their farm system, and still miss the playoffs. The Marlins, Astros, Brewers, Blue Jays, Mariners, Mets, White Sox, Phillies, Royals, Twins, Padres, and Cubs are not going to compete for anything. The Blue Jays bet big with a bad hand, so they might be committed to see things out, and the Royals bet big with an even worse hand. It's a shame, because they could make some of the better pitchers available. It would be interesting to see what they could fetch for Dickey, but they probably won't trade him. The Royals could try to salvage something out of the Shields trade, but also doubtful. The rest of the potential sellers, with the exception of Cliff Lee, don't have any front line starters. They have some interesting depth options though. The Astros, Brewers, Padres, and Mariners have no one anyone wants. The Marlins will probably trade Nolasco and Slowey. The Mets could make Marcum available. The White Sox have Peavy and Floyd. The Twins have Kevin Correia. The Cubs have the most to offer in Garza, Feldman, and Villanueva. Those are probably the options that we are looking at. Lee will cost too much in prospects and money. I would see what it would take to land Peavy. He pitches pretty well in the AL and in a bandbox. He's cheaper than Lee, and we'd control him for two more years. He's also a better third option in the postseason than Lackey. If that falls through, I'd look at renting Garza, Feldman, or Marcum.

I think you would have to consider doing that. It would be pretty rare for the Red Sox to get the opportunity to draft someone like Appel.

If Moran goes first to the Astros, and the Cubs take Gray, Appel could fall into the Red Sox lap. Wishful thinking, but a possibility.

Brentz has got great power potential, and a good arm in RF. However, I worry that his low walk/high strikeout approach will lead to problems at the major league level. He has a 6.5% walk rate, and a 23.3% K rate. It's encouraging to see the K's come down, he's also benefited from absurdly high BABIP averages, which will probably come down to earth at some point. I like him more as a trade chip.

I don't want to be a downer, but I'm still skeptical of Cecchini. It's good to see him ranked highly by Keith Law, but he's still a little old for the Carolina League. I'd like to see what we can do at Portland.

You're right, but this is just a thread where you can toss ideas around about the future of the team. A lot of people like Cliff Lee, because he can help the team this year, but I think it's important to discuss what the financial impact he would have on the future roster. The Red Sox have about $102 million before arbitration on the books for 2014. Lee would add bump that total to $127 million. Depending on what happens with arbitration, would the Red Sox have enough money to fill holes in the bullpen, 1B, and LF? We also might need to fill at hole at 3B, if WMB keeps swinging at pitches a mile out of the strike zone.

It's too bad. We could use him.

RED SOX (33-23) Nava LF Carp RF Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Napoli 1B Drew SS Saltalamacchia C Iglesias 3B Bradley Jr. CF Pitching: LHP Felix Doubront (3-2, 5.29). YANKEES (31-23) TBA Pitching: RHP Phil Hughes (2-3, 4.97) Is it just me, or does our lineup look pretty weak? Books have the Red Sox at even money, the Yankees at -110. Virtual coin flip. Doubront has had some success against the Yankees, whereas Hughes has a below average ERA against the Sox. I'm going with the Sox. 5-4.