In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

In response to moonslav59's comment:

Not bad numbers, but also not the types of numbers that will lead a 69 win team, that was actually worse after the big trade, to a title in 1 year.

Partially agree.  Partially because I think this everyday lineup, if it stays reasonably healthy, is 'good enough' to go deep in the playoffs.  But only if the starting pitching is vastly improved, and that's where things get very shaky.

I agree. I think our offense should be better, and except for maybe papi, naps and drew I don't see health being something that should be expected.

Our SPs have the potential to be playoff caliber, but to me, that involves too many things all going right at the same time. I'm hoping for the best.

Other teams improving also scares me, and except for the Yanks, Rangers and O's, I think many teams that were ahead of us last year got even better, but even some of those teams were so much better than us last year that they might still end up better this year as well.

In the AL, I see only the Twins as being clearly worse than us. The Indians and KC both got better, but can easily be worse than us. The Mariners CWS, and O's should be close. That's 6 teams that look as good or worse than us. That leaves 8 teams that I rate better than us, and there are only 5 slots to make the playoffs. That's a tough hill to climb.

In response to moonslav59's comment:

In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

In response to moonslav59's comment:

Not bad numbers, but also not the types of numbers that will lead a 69 win team, that was actually worse after the big trade, to a title in 1 year.

Partially agree.  Partially because I think this everyday lineup, if it stays reasonably healthy, is 'good enough' to go deep in the playoffs.  But only if the starting pitching is vastly improved, and that's where things get very shaky.

I agree. I think our offense should be better, and except for maybe papi, naps and drew I don't see health being something that should be expected.

Our SPs have the potential to be playoff caliber, but to me, that involves too many things all going right at the same time. I'm hoping for the best.

Other teams improving also scares me, and except for the Yanks, Rangers and O's, I think many teams that were ahead of us last year got even better, but even some of those teams were so much better than us last year that they might still end up better this year as well.

In the AL, I see only the Twins as being clearly worse than us. The Indians and KC both got better, but can easily be worse than us. The Mariners CWS, and O's should be close. That's 6 teams that look as good or worse than us. That leaves 8 teams that I rate better than us, and there are only 5 slots to make the playoffs. That's a tough hill to climb.

its why we play the games moony

In response to mef429's comment:

In response to moonslav59's comment:

In response to Hfxsoxnut's comment:

In response to moonslav59's comment:

Not bad numbers, but also not the types of numbers that will lead a 69 win team, that was actually worse after the big trade, to a title in 1 year.

Partially agree.  Partially because I think this everyday lineup, if it stays reasonably healthy, is 'good enough' to go deep in the playoffs.  But only if the starting pitching is vastly improved, and that's where things get very shaky.

I agree. I think our offense should be better, and except for maybe papi, naps and drew I don't see health being something that should be expected.

Our SPs have the potential to be playoff caliber, but to me, that involves too many things all going right at the same time. I'm hoping for the best.

Other teams improving also scares me, and except for the Yanks, Rangers and O's, I think many teams that were ahead of us last year got even better, but even some of those teams were so much better than us last year that they might still end up better this year as well.

In the AL, I see only the Twins as being clearly worse than us. The Indians and KC both got better, but can easily be worse than us. The Mariners CWS, and O's should be close. That's 6 teams that look as good or worse than us. That leaves 8 teams that I rate better than us, and there are only 5 slots to make the playoffs. That's a tough hill to climb.

its why we play the games moony

...and that's why I love to watch every pitch of evry game, every year.  

Sometimes twice.

...and that's why I love to watch every pitch of evry game, every year.  

Sometimes twice.

well good. we can play the SS game again :)

just like we did last year with Aviles we can judge every ball that gets past Drew and speculate whether Iggy could have gotten to it or not.

I hope I am proven as wrong about Drew as I was about Aviles and range.

(BTW, I was wrong about Scutaro too. I thought he was better than he turned out to be here in Boston.)

In response to moonslav59's comment:

...and that's why I love to watch every pitch of evry game, every year.  

Sometimes twice.

well good. we can play the SS game again :)

just like we did last year with Aviles we can judge every ball that gets past Drew and speculate whether Iggy could have gotten to it or not.

I hope I am proven as wrong about Drew as I was about Aviles and range.

(BTW, I was wrong about Scutaro too. I thought he was better than he turned out to be here in Boston.)

Drew has been up and down as a fielder, there was a season or 2 where he was above average and a season or 2 where he was below average.. The ankle injury isn;t going to help him BUT he seems to be fully healed from it so i think it should be a non-issue at this point. We will find out soon enough though.

In response to mef429's comment:

In response to moonslav59's comment:

...and that's why I love to watch every pitch of evry game, every year.  

Sometimes twice.

well good. we can play the SS game again :)

just like we did last year with Aviles we can judge every ball that gets past Drew and speculate whether Iggy could have gotten to it or not.

I hope I am proven as wrong about Drew as I was about Aviles and range.

(BTW, I was wrong about Scutaro too. I thought he was better than he turned out to be here in Boston.)

Drew has been up and down as a fielder, there was a season or 2 where he was above average and a season or 2 where he was below average.. The ankle injury isn;t going to help him BUT he seems to be fully healed from it so i think it should be a non-issue at this point. We will find out soon enough though.

His overall career numbers show a really bad range. I doubt he gets any better with a pin in his ankle in that area of defense, which happens to be a big chunk of what SS D is all about.

Moon, you and I agree that Iggy should be our starting shortstop. In fact, I filled out the interactive batting order in  today's Globe with Bradley Jr leading off and Iggy batting ninth. But I am also of the opinion that Drew will be a solid upgrade over Aviles defensively. He looked good tonight and so did Napoli. But the highlight to tonight's game, in my opinion, was the pitching. Lester looked very sharp; he was popplng the mitt and his breaking pitches had good bite. Rubby was equally impressive; it seemed like he had two strikes on every hitter. Wright had two very clean innings before walks got him in trouble, but most of his outs were recorded against subs for the JV team.

Moon, you and I agree that Iggy should be our starting shortstop. In fact, I filled out the interactive batting order in  today's Globe with Bradley Jr leading off and Iggy batting ninth. But I am also of the opinion that Drew will be a solid upgrade over Aviles defensively. He looked good tonight and so did Napoli. But the highlight to tonight's game, in my opinion, was the pitching. Lester looked very sharp; he was popplng the mitt and his breaking pitches had good bite. Rubby was equally impressive; it seemed like he had two strikes on every hitter. Wright had two very clean innings before walks got him in trouble, but most of his outs were recorded against subs for the JV team.

Pedey is a freak.

Drew never had good range, so I'm not expecting a pin and a 30th birthday to improve on it.

In response to moonslav59's comment:

Pedey is a freak.

Drew never had good range, so I'm not expecting a pin and a 30th birthday to improve on it.

You threw in 30th birthday for effect, right?  A ballplayer doesn't lose much in year 30 do they?

In response to RedsoxProspects' comment:

In response to jidgef's comment:

Moon, you and I agree that Iggy should be our starting shortstop. In fact, I filled out the interactive batting order in  today's Globe with Bradley Jr leading off and Iggy batting ninth. But I am also of the opinion that Drew will be a solid upgrade over Aviles defensively. He looked good tonight and so did Napoli. But the highlight to tonight's game, in my opinion, was the pitching. Lester looked very sharp; he was popplng the mitt and his breaking pitches had good bite. Rubby was equally impressive; it seemed like he had two strikes on every hitter. Wright had two very clean innings before walks got him in trouble, but most of his outs were recorded against subs for the JV team.

Lester still can't get a strike call though. the umps still hate him. It's easy to see.

Boom, I couldn't tell if he was getting sqeezed or not, but I never saw any of the histrionics he displayed last year which really pi$$es off umpires.

Linares goes yard today.

In response to RedsoxProspects' comment:

Both Victorino and Gomes fill his slot though, as both are extremely strong against LH pitching. He's probably our best depth from AAA ball though, beyond potentially Nava and JBJ.

Yes, both Gomes and SV have near insane numbers vs LHPs recently, but my guess is one of our OF'ers will get hurt this year. Linares may be better than both of them vs RHPs, so maybe overall, he could do a good job out there. He may also be Papi's replacement if injured (Gomes to DH- Linares to LF).