I would only trade Crisp if they were able to get something good for him. And my guess is that right around deadline time there will be one or two teams looking for an upgrade and perhaps Theo will be able to pull off a deal where he gets one or two good prospects…If Crisp is gone they can bring up Moss, he showed he can be at least a 4th outfielder in the majors. he might not be a speedy guy but he has more pop than crisp.

Regarding Colon…here is how I would write it out if I had control over the universe: Colon comes up in about a month and replaces Bucky in the starters role. Colon pitches very well. They move Bucky to the pen (he is a swing and miss pitcher) and he is joined by Masterson. This keeps the youngsters innings counts in check for the year and give the pen a needed lift. If Colon injures his third chin they yank him and put Bucky back in the starting role, but the month or two from Colon bought him enough rest to pitch through the payoffs as the number three starter, which he has now become.

If Colon, kicks ass, he is our #3 and we have a 6-9inning combo of masterson, bucky, oki, paps.

Personally, I think Hansen is doing well but I don’t think he is ready for big game pitching yet. I’d use him in 6th inning type relief (maybe on nights Lester pitches he can come in and pitch the 6th…Next year I think is the go/ no go for him. He’s shown some good stuff this year but he still seems mentally unstable on the mound-like he expects something bad to happen.

I’d love to see Masterson come up and start pitching in relief but only if they are commited to playing him regularly. I heard a quote from him where he said he wants another year starting in the minors to work on his change up but I have a feeling if he was brough up after the all-star break and started pitching regularly out of the pen he’d be psyched. Plus, he’s a big dude-he might intimidate a few folks as a reliever.

I have a feeling Schilling will attempt a comeback-perhaps pitching a few games but will in the end shut it down and retire. We do not, I repeat NOT, want him as a set-up guy for Paps. We saw that experiment, it didn’t work.

Lugo should go bye bye and I think every error he makes brings that closer to reality. We all know Theo likes infield defense and realizes the value of defense in the playoffs (remember the nomar trade?)so let’s pray for omar…

All in all, the Sox are looking pretty good this year. Their starting pitching is getting stronger as the season wears on and I think the only REAL issue is middle relief, which is important, but not as crucial as late inning relief or starting pitching. Come playoff time, the rotation tightens up o four starters anyway and you don’t play as many games in a row so the headliners will be available almost every night.

Agree that Lowrie has more appeal b/c he plays more positions.

I don’t think they are any more crowded with infielders than they are now - you just swap lugo for omar…if one of those two gets hot, you ride ‘em…

also, lowrie can get a little time at 3rd for lowell…

here’s another theory of mine - they really like lowrie to become the everyday third basemen for lowell at the end of his contract and plan to use him more in that role over the next few years as lowell gets older and needs more breaks.

cc

So Theo was willing to shell out for Renteria/Lugo…but not for OC?

All that said…OC’s offensive stats are pretty horrible this year. But only 1 error.

Gammons’ idea of trading for Omar Vizquel and having split time at SS with Lowrie sounds pretty good. But Visquel, Lowrie, Cora…is there room for all of them on the roster? Does Cora need to go, too? Why not just ship off Lugo and let cora/lowrie share the time. Seems like Cora and Vizquel are the same players. Except Cora plays more positions.

Fairly certain that the Theo braintrust is exploring this stuff. They shipped away Nomar in part because he couldn’t field. Lugo doesn’t nearly have the same built in security blanket that Nomar had a few years ago.

Renteria…just another example of Theo isn’t afraid to dump his SS. Is Theo forever going to be making up for letting Orlando Cabrera walk away?

Who’s makes more, anyway? Lugo or OC?

I doubt the Sox will be able to trade Lugo unless they take on someone elses crappy salary in the process-which, at this point, would be nice. I actually have a theory about Lugo that I haven’t heard anyone mention yet:

I think he will be converted to a utility outfielder. He’s fast enough to get to a lot of balls, his lack of ability to field ground balls would go away, and he’d be a pretty dynamic late inning running substitution.

One thing I know for sure after watching him over the past year and a half:

He’s the worst infielder we have on our team. Cora is a better ss, Pedroia would be a better ss. Lowrie would be a better ss. And none of them are amazingly good - it’s just that he is so bad that it would always be an upgrade.

So, assuming Lugo is with the team at the end of the year, I’d be willing to bet they either convert him to utility - although I think we’d all rather see Moss in that role - or swallow a part of his contract value in order to move him for minor leaguers.

All that said, I wouldn’t be unhappy if Lowrie got a shot at everyday ss but I’d rather have Cora as the backup.

cc

Craig Hansen…ummm, no.

One thing to consider is this. Players in the sox farm system seem to be held back from the big league club until they are truly ready. It seems to be a mandate that they should make contributions right away.

On other teams there seems to be a greater willingness to throw young talent into the lineup on a regular basis and let them work it out. Remember when the Sox traded Hanley Ramirez? He was still in Double-A at the time. Then suddenly, he’s the everyday starting shortstop for Florida. This past winter in the Santana talks, Jed Lowrie’s name was getting thrown around and folks were doing lineup projections for the Twins with him as an everyday infielder.

Have no idea if the way sox treat younger guys is a factor of the state of the organizational depth or a fundamental approach to their system. Perhaps its a combo of both.

As a fan, hard to say which I like more. Obviously what I enjoy most is the team winning. But, do I want to wait until Jed Lowrie is ready to bat 9th everyday, hitting .315 out of the box? Or is it more rewarding to see a guy like Pedroia struggle mightily, be given the patience then figure it all out to be a major contributor.

I was definitely calling for the benching of Pedroia for Cora last year. But watching him turn it around and become the player that he is was one of the best parts of last season.