Despite a couple highlights, it's been very hard to watch Will Middlebrooks play baseball for the sox this year. His struggles at the plate are well chronicled, but his fielding has been shaky at best as well...
For so long, I have been unable to understand the sox commitment to him. Sure, he's a poster boy... but the boys who look up to him and the pink hats aren't generally buying tickets, so that rationale doesn't explain the story away for me. It's perfectly clear that he's got a ton of potential, so if they really cared about developing him as a player, it made sense to me to get him down to Pawtucket to let him work on his game (wish that would have worked for Daniel Bard, but oh well).
I'm relieved to see the sox finally make this move, and in a move that rewards the player who actually has earned the spot (in my opinion, anyway) make Jose Iglesias the every day third baseman.
Here is a link to the ESPN story:
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/9422241/will-middlebrooks-demoted-boston-red-sox
I was really worried Iglesias would get off his hot streak with the on-again/off-again rotation he was thrown into. To say his offense has been surprising to me is an understatement. But I cannot argue that his numbers are a fluke or just luck at this point. I imagine he'll drop some points off his average and cool off in general a bit, but I'm quite happy with this move. Seeing him in the field is a thing a beauty, and I think he'll fully adjust to playing at third base within a short amount of time. I'm really hoping he continues to play well at the plate and in the field and I really hope WMB turns his game around in the minors.
I have no idea what is going to happen for the sox at SS next year, and would love to see them both in the lineup, playing well!
Frankly, the Red Sox should have kept Pedro Ciriaco, and then demoted/benched both Middlebrooks and Drew, so that Ciriaco could play 3B and Iglesias could play SS.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, Ciriaco may not be an All-Star calibre player, but he's hitting 0.262 this year, compared to Stephen Drew's 0.225. Indeed, Ciriaco has hit much better than Drew throughout his career, and his defense is more than adequate.
If Ciriaco was around to replace Middlebrooks on 3B and Drew was benched, Iglesias would be playing SS, which is his natural position, and there would be continuity if/when Middlebrooks is ready to return.
Oh, well. The Sox decided too early that Iglesias was going to be just a utility guy rather than an everyday player, and Ciriaco was expendable. With the way things are, when Middlebrooks is ready to come pack, it looks like Iglesias has to go back to being the utility guy.
(And meanwhile, since being acquired by the Padres and given regular playing time, Ciriaco is hitting 0.412!)