oldtimer

You might get some value in a trade that would further the argument of making it sooner than later if that becomes the long term plan.

Its a strained hamstring on Rutledge. Depending on how serious it is, it is up to a 6 week injury. Someone will need to be in that spot, whether it is Selsky or Hernandez. The complications include Moreland being sick with the flu and Rameriz still dealing with his strain. Love to see Hernandez, but he doesn't play 1st.

Based on their ST performances, is it possible someone would propose a trade for either if we ate part of their contracts?

He is answering the doubters and I am one of those. If he shores up 3rd base with a better than expected season, we are solid at every infield position and the outfield looks outstanding with the one question being JBJ's hitting consistency. Great news on Panda so far.

Looking at the official Red Sox Web site for Depth Chart, not including pitching, it comes out as the following: LF Beni/Young/Brentz CF JBJ/Young/Beni/Holt RF Betts/Young/Holt/Brentz 3rd Panda/Holt/Rutledge/Hernandez SS Bogie/Holt/Rutledge 2nd Pedroia/Holt/Hernandez 1st Moreland/Rameriz DH Rameriz/Young/Sandoval C Leon/Vazquez/Swihart Of those, I expect Brentz to be replaced by Selsky sooner than later. If he is, do we remove Holt from outfield depth? I expect Travis may add to the depth at 1st base during the season. is Holt a superior option at 2nd than Hernandez? I think not. The depth at SS and 3rd include Holt and Rutledge with Hernandez also listed at 3rd. Does that make sense?As the season develops should we consider Holt as trade bait? At catcher, where we start the year is unlikely where we finish. All depends on the hitting of Leon and Varquez and the defensive development of Swihart. We know our 9 starters, the question remains as to who the 4 reserve players will be as the season develops. Clearly Young and Vazquez are likely to remain so we have two slots or 3 depending on the catching situation. Holt/Rutledge? Hernandez/Rutledge? Hernandez/Selsky? Don't expect Travis unless of injury at 1st and Swihart will depend on how Leon and Vazquez perform or if they get injured.

I would like the 25 man roster to reflect the best available depth and hope that as the season progresses, trades and moves will be made to allow Hernandez, Swihart and Selsky to be on that roster. Having those three plus Young as potential pinch hitters would make the team more dangerous and we could rest any player immersed in a slump. Of course that means moving some of last years stalwarts, but we should be thinking about putting the best guys forward. Don't see Travis getting the nod unless we have injury issues.

and parcel analysis for the beginning of the season. Offense: We shall see with JBJ and Leon being the most suspect Rotation: Very good through 3, still questionable until injuries play out Defense: Should be improved in the outfield, Sandoval and Mooreland should hold their own or better. Decent Speed: Yes in the outfield, average or slightly below in the infield and very slow at catcher. Pen: Last years returnees are average with the new guys yet to show more positive results Bench: Do we keep Marco up? do we keep Holt and Rutledge? Vasquez at catcher for now? State tuned!

Lots of righty lefty thinking in this lineup. Swihart won't be there at least to start so the hope is Leon can hit.

I'll bet you could get a good defender to replace him with a much better BA if that was the case. Let us hope he has a decent showing so we don't even have to consider dropping him from the line up.

I'd keep Bogey at SS also. But the idea of having a very weak hitting right handed third base backup last year didn't go well and perhaps Rutledge would do better, but you have a terrific left hand hitter in Marco and he could fill in as utility for Short, second and third. Keep this kid and trade the players that have more value to others than to us.

Thick Ricky Henderson

I hope your right, but I saw the same long looping swing in sept and the playoffs, so I never saw the adjustments you spoke of. That's why when he said he was going to try harder to be consistent this year I wondered what additional improvement he was working on. So far it is hard to see any.

That's why they should be done in the off season.

What more can he do to make the team? The righty lefty argument only goes so far. . I would love to see us keep him and was on his side last year as well. He has a great swing and would be a super utility infielder, probably superior to Holt. Think of trading away pieces and keeping him. We have Selsky and Swihart for 2nd backup outfielders or could keep Travis, but that leaves us thin in the outfield.

So why not make the effort to get away from the high maintenance swing mechanics. The time to do that was the off season. When he talked of trying harder, there was no mention of altering the swing.

Having hitters who can also run the bases well up early in the order may also put pressure on the pitcher. We have two ot those in Betts and Beni. I'd like to see both of them up in the 1 through 4 slotss and expect that to be the case.

Other than him saying he was going to try harder to be more consistent, he added nothing about what trying harder meant. My view is that he needs to realize what works and what doesn't. He is surrounded to coaches and advanced technology to zero in on what works best for him. My hope is that he alters his approach if needs be to be the hitter the hot stretches show that he could be. The rest of his game is excellent.

There are two older tradable guys on the Sox roster in Holt and Rutledge and 4 guys underneath that could fill those spots and offer a low cost and perhaps better capability. Hernandez looks like an up and comer with a good left handed bat and the ability to play 3rd, short and second. Travis looks like a right handed power bat with good contact who right now can play 1st but might expand his capability soon. Then there are Swihart a switch hitter with flexible positioning and Selsky, possibly a good quality right handed bat with reasonable ability in the outfield. To me, this situation screams of looking at possible trades to: 1) Improve our bench 2) Lower the salary of our roster 3) Get some trade value out of our aging players

I agree with your opening day lineup. If Sandoval is hitting well he has a chance of moving up in the lineup which Leon will have something to prove to stay in the lineup. Interesting story on Bradley saying he plans to strike out less and hit the ball hard (he doesn't care about to which field) which is all well and good, but it the story on him doesn't say how he intends to do that (shorten his swing, etc.) I hope he can find consistency.

Yes, you, Moon and myself have argued that Hernandez looks like a good alternative in the infield and has a nice stroke at the plate. Hope they give the kid serious consideration on the 25 man roster. He and Travis look like they could help the club now.

So, could he possibly make the 25 man roster?

An attitude that suggests there wasn't an option to going 7 years for Price. We let Lester go and could have had him for half the money at 5 years. Perhaps we could have gotten two good pitchers both on shorter contracts and that would have reduced the risk and perhaps increased the upside over the period of the contract. As it is, we got a very good pitcher who is at high risk of not fulfilling the full term of the contract. To me the risk assessment should take those things into account.

So far the news is good on the Price front but it does show that the whole signing is just a sore arm away from turning into a disaster. I am not a fan of long term high Priced contracts for pitchers. Too much can go wrong.

Lets hope he can stay away from the pasta and return to his salad days.

Unless he bats 3rd.