southsider2k5

And two big injuries to start the season isn't helping that.

So why is weakening multiple positions making the team better? We saw he was a pretty mediocre 2B, and Boston didn't think enough of him to leave him at SS. The Sox didn't think enough of him at SS to play him there even before running into TA, or enough to move TA off of SS for him.

3rd best would put him in the finals for a gold glove, which is more than enough to call it gold glove calibur if you want to insist in splitting insignificant hairs.

Here's the thing. You have a gold glove level 3B defensively in Yoan Moncada. Why would you weaken two positions defensively, when you could just weaken 1 by using Burger at 2B if he can handle it? Yoan was a pretty crappy 2B when he played there. Maybe it has been so long that people forgot about it?

Sure seemed like it was being recognized by the hitters. They didn't look like they even thought about swinging at off speed stuff.

Did they have a 4 month lockout followed by a 3.5 week spring training in Japan too?

It's not a "sure" answer. Nothing in baseball is. it is 100% playing the odds. But at the end of the day, when you have a guy who has qualified for an ERA title ONCE in 7 years, it would make sense to believe that this year won't be different.

Rodon being on the roster and useful in October is a legitimate question. Kind of hard to be a contributor if you can't play. The question about Rodon has never been about ability or potential. It is 100% about health.

The thing is, a strikeout is always a .000 OBP. Working a count is one thing, but simply focusing on strikeouts isn't the right focus.