Adrian Beltre

The New York Times has a great profile of Adrian Beltre, noting that he is "perhaps the most underappreciated performer in baseball." 

So why did the Red Sox let him sleep away?  They claimed to have concerns about his age and his health -- but more significantly, another Adrian, with more name recognition, was available.   

Now, Adrian Gonzalez was no slouch during his tenure with the Red Sox.  But Adrian Beltre has been the better performer.  (So far this year, Gonzalez has hit .297 with 16 home runs; Beltre has hit .311 with 25 home runs.) 

If the Sox had kept Beltre, Youkilis could have kept playing 1B and perhaps would not have aged so quickly.  But then, what would the Sox do with Middlebrooks?

As they say, it's water under the bridge. 

One last time... Yooooook!

Wanted to take a moment to say goodbye to Kevin Youkilis, who was traded away yesterday to the White Sox for two players I had never heard of (25-year-old RHP Zach Stewart and 28-year-old utility man Brent Lillibridge, more details on them here) to make room for the en fuego Will Middlebrooks, who has a .960 OPS, nine homers and 33 RBI in his his first 40 games.

While for that reason and getting Gonzo out of the outfield, I know he needed to go, I'll miss having Youkilis on the team. It wasn't too long ago that he was perhaps the toughest out in baseball, even if he did look really, really strange up at the plate doing it.

I should mention that it did appear like both Youkilis and the team were ready to move on from each other. On his best days, Yook didn't have a sunny disposition, and as the team tries to recover from last season and rebuild itself around Bobby Valentine he did not seem to be fitting in. Combine that with his poor performance this year and the writing's been on the wall for some time. Still, Yook is only 33 and may still have some good years left in him, and it makes me sad to see another mainstay from the Sox' championship days send packing. I'm also not sure how to explain to my 5 year old that we won't be chanting "Yooooook!" during Sox games any more.

Farewell #20! We'll see you again on July 16th.

Middlebrooks or Youkilis?

Will Middlebrooks has been lighting it up in his MLB debut with the Red Sox. For perspective, note that he's had at least one extra-base hit in each of his first five major league games (two singles, four doubles, and three home runs) - and that's with just the one at-bat last night!.

Many fans are understandably smitten, and want the Sox to trade Yook and had 3B to Middlebrooks. I sympathize with this view: Youkilis has looked old and slow this year, and I fear that his body will no longer enable him to play at the elite level that we're used to seeing him play. But it remains to be seen if Middlebrooks can keep up this torrid pace. Remember last year when Reddick was smashing the cover off of the ball and how quickly he cooled off? Even if Middlebrooks doesn't stop hitting, it's too soon to give up on Youkilis. After all, at his best, Youkilis is an excellent batter with fantastic plate discipline. Here's hoping that the  "walking program" that he's started will get him back to normal!

Seriously, though - the Sox have a dilemma: how to keep Middlebrooks bat in the lineup? Some are suggesting that Middlebrooks play in the outfield, but as Peter Abraham writes: "Middlebrooks was a third baseman in high school and has played only third base professionally. Could he play the outfield? ... Generally speaking, Valentine said third baseman do not make good corner outfielders." So that's probably not a good idea. Youkilis himself certainly did not look good when the Sox tried him in left.

The best suggestion i've seen comes from Nick Carfado:

Here's what I would do with Youkilis: Can the Red Sox convince him to be their Michael Young? He could play some third, first, left field and DH. Maybe even some second base. With his bad back, I don't know if this is feasible, but it would be the best use of the talent.

The question mark is his durability, but in a perfect world, this makes the most sense. Keep Middlebrooks excellent bat in the lineup on a daily basis (at least while he's hot), and have Youkilis as your utility guy, resting him and his bad back when you don't need him. The bonus with this plan: we'd be saved from watching the horrorshow that is Nick Punto at the plate.

What do you think?

Lineup without Ortiz

I just heard the news that Big Papi is going to miss the next week with Bursitis. (I had to look it up too.)

I'm curious: how does this affect our lineup moving forward? I assume that it means that Lowrey plays DH, and when either Yook or Scutaro DH when he plays the field. Or perhaps Aviles?

Historically Good

I knew that the Red Sox lineup was amazing, but this fact is incredible:

Each of the top five hitters in the Red Sox lineup has an OPS over .865:

Jacoby Ellsbury .911
Dustin Pedroia .893
Adrian Gonzalez .973
Kevin Youkilis .890
David Ortiz .960

The rest of the American League combined has five.

Jose Bautista Blue Jays 1.138
Miguel Cabrera Tigers .986
Paul Konerko White Sox .935
Curtis Granderon Yankees .930
Jhonny Peralta Tigers .901