So this Will Middlebrooks kid, he has got some serious game. The problem is what do the Sox do with him when Youkilis gets back? I mean Youk has had a rough start to the season, but he’s a proven player and you don’t bail on someone like that twenty-five games into the season because a Triple AAA guy had a great first four games. However, that isn’t to say Middlebrooks has to be sent back down to the minors either. With Ortiz swinging the best bat of his career at DH and Adrian Gonzalez being one of the best hitters in baseball when he is at his best you don’t have anywhere Youk can move to so he’s locked in at third.
My question would have to be can he learn to play the outfield. He has good speed and he is clearly a good athlete so I don’t think it would be that big a stretch to throw him in right field. I mean we put Lars Anderson out there a couple times and he is half the athlete Middlebrooks is. His numbers were ridiculous in the minors and now he has three home runs in his first four major league games, not to mention tying a record for most runs batted in during the first four games of a career. He is batting .381 with six extra base hits as well as a stolen base. They say he is a five tool player and he is proving it. Last night after the game the analysts were considering the possibility of trading him when Youkilis gets back, which is outrageous. He has proven himself during the past two seasons with monstrous numbers in the minors and he is continuing it with the Red Sox. Just because you don’t have a spot in the starting lineup for him right now doesn’t mean you try and get an average player for him.
Worst case scenario if they decide they don’t want to try him in the outfield is he backs up Youkilis. He could get the start when Youk, Ortiz or Gonzalez needed a day off. I understand that isn’t often, but if he is swinging a hot bat you can afford to give those guys a day off every couple of weeks.
Now the Red Sox got a much needed win last night in Kansas City. I fooled you didn’t I. After they got on that winning streak to get back to .500 you thought they would be atop the AL East in a week or two, but no they lost five straight and find themselves almost seven games behind the Rays and Orioles. Once again I’m not in panic mode because I know they have over 130 games left. However, I am very worried about Clay Buchholz. He hasn’t had a start this year that he has allowed fewer than five runs. I don’t know what his problem is, but if he continues to struggle it may be his spot that Dice-K ends up taking in order to give Buchholz some time to figure it all out.
The Aaron Cook experiment didn’t go so well. In his one shot to prove himself up here during Beckett’s start he didn’t make it past the third inning. Why people try to say numbers in Triple AAA has any correlation to how a guy with pitch in the majors is beyond me. You have to look at a guys stuff which yes to be honest he did look good, but clearly the awful hitters aided that.
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