The irony is now we're going to bench Keppinger when he's been hitting close to .400 the last 13 games.

 

That kind of season.

 

 

They key is fixing up the middle first.

 

Beckham/Ramirez, then CF and C.

At least, that's traditionally the way to think.

 

It's just going to be incredibly difficult to do in the short-term...but rather than spending huge money on veteran bats in the free agency market, they're going to have to find value players like the Rays did with Ben Zobrist (Astros) and someone like a Franklin Gutierrez (Mariners).

 

That will at least allow us to be play "Twins/small ball" and win the close games (if we can shore up the bullpen too) and make other teams beat themselves with our pitching, base-running and defense.

 

I agree with this. Now that Beckham is back middle infield should be better. I think the time has come to play your best centerfielder on a consistant basis. Put Jordan Danks in center everyday and see what he can do. It's not like you're going to lose much offensively the way DeAza & Viciedo have been playing. DeAza can play left while Viciedo splits time with DeAza (lf) & Dunn (dh) until one of them gets hot or proves that they need to play everyday somewhere.

 

I think that this could relax our pitchers a bit as well because they wouldn't have to feel they need to strike everyone out and pitch more to contact knowing that they have a defense that can help them out.

I agree with this. Now that Beckham is back middle infield should be better. I think the time has come to play your best centerfielder on a consistant basis. Put Jordan Danks in center everyday and see what he can do. It's not like you're going to lose much offensively the way DeAza & Viciedo have been playing. DeAza can play left while Viciedo splits time with DeAza (lf) & Dunn (dh) until one of them gets hot or proves that they need to play everyday somewhere.

 

I think that this could relax our pitchers a bit as well because they wouldn't have to feel they need to strike everyone out and pitch more to contact knowing that they have a defense that can help them out.

Ironically, Jordan Danks made an awful play in CF yesterday. As bad as the defense has been, if they could score more runs, they still would be OK. I don't know how inserting Jordan Danks into the line up every day will make the offense better.

 

The Sox have already lost 10 games in which they allowed 3 runs or less.

Edited June 3, 201312 yr by Dick Allen

I agree with this. Now that Beckham is back middle infield should be better. I think the time has come to play your best centerfielder on a consistant basis. Put Jordan Danks in center everyday and see what he can do. It's not like you're going to lose much offensively the way DeAza & Viciedo have been playing. DeAza can play left while Viciedo splits time with DeAza (lf) & Dunn (dh) until one of them gets hot or proves that they need to play everyday somewhere.

 

I think that this could relax our pitchers a bit as well because they wouldn't have to feel they need to strike everyone out and pitch more to contact knowing that they have a defense that can help them out.

I don't feel like Jordan Danks's defense has distinguished him positively either.

Ironically, Jordan Danks made an awful play in CF yesterday. As bad as the defense has been, if they could score more runs, they still would be OK. I don't know how inserting Jordan Danks into the line up every day will make the offense better.

The Sox have already lost 10 games in which they allowed 3 runs or less.

 

I hear ya, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing. I just think that its time to shake things up a little bit and try something different. I agree that Danks wouldn't help the offense much, if any; but Danks replacing 1 of DeAza, Viciedo, or Dunn in the lineup isn't exactly taking out a hot bat either.

 

I think that while making a bad play yesterday, overall Danks is much better on average than anyone else we have in centerfield.

I hear ya, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing. I just think that its time to shake things up a little bit and try something different. I agree that Danks wouldn't help the offense much, if any; but Danks replacing 1 of DeAza, Viciedo, or Dunn in the lineup isn't exactly taking out a hot bat either.

 

I think that while making a bad play yesterday, overall Danks is much better on average than anyone else we have in centerfield.

 

 

The problem is when you're sacrificing 75-125+ OPS points, he better be playing a Gold Glove CF.