Royals Vs Sox - Part Deux - 7:11pm CSN, Luke "Ho-Down" Hochevar vs Mark "Big Balls" Buehrle Options

[Kalapse]

Well I don't have the stats. What has Juan hit in his last 50 at bats? If Juan plays D like this and can actually produce at the plate, I guess I'd keep Juan in there and spell him with Joe. Give me Juan's BA and RBIs over his last 50 at bats. I am not of the belief Crede is suddenly a bad fielder. You better believe Oz and KW are not going to play him if he's hurting. I tend to trust Oz on this one rather than panic about Joe's return.

.302/.362/.453/.815 since taking over for Crede at 3B. Whether Joe Crede is or isn't going to an awful defender for the remainder of his career is immaterial, all we've seen from him this season is an awful defender and there's really no reason to believe his back injury flaring up is going to make him any better in the field. Maybe he'll be better next year after resting his back for 4 months or maybe it'll take him another year to get back to the way he was, who knows. The point is; there's absolutely no reason to believe he's going to come back from this latest debilitating back injury and be spectacular in the field while at the same time I have a hard time believing we're going to see any sort of fall off defensively from Juan.

[greg775]

I'd think it will be pretty obvious if his back is bothering him. Maybe not. I'd think there are ways a guy like Oz, who played the game forever, could figure it out. I applaud Juan for that play tonight, but I am not a big Juan Uribe fan. I am a big Joe Crede fan.