Maybe they will get a little Smellhorn-Pokey thing going if the roster has room for it.

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Fixed the link.

-- MWE

Great article. Thanks for posting.

As great as Iglesias is with the glove, I doubt he'll ever be able to hit well enough to be anything more than a late-inning defensive sub type.

He has three doubles and a homer already this spring. He's a new player entirely! It's not just a small sample / variable competition fluke!

That's a great article. I hadn't really even thought about how more strikeouts logically equals lessening importance of defense.

All of the Three True Outcomes (strikeouts, homers, walks) lessen the importance of fielding, although I would imagine that walks increase the importance of turning the double play, by increasing the number of men on first. - Brock Hanke

Was there ever even a remote chance that Drew would sit, once they signed him?

I'd love to know what advice Drew's brother gave him about playing in Boston.

It's actually a nice problem to have. You have Iglesias waiting in the wings as the ultimate defensive shortstop, if/when Drew misses time.

That's a great article. I hadn't really even thought about how more strikeouts logically equals lessening importance of defense.

That was a running theme in BP (if I remember right)...and my own personal crusade back in the late 90's/early 2000's...that the Yankees could survive guys like Bernie and Jeter in key defensive positions if they would field a high strike out staff...it makes logical sense to a degree, but the problem is execution...there are only so many Clemens and Randy Johnson's out there.

This makes it sound like it was a difficult decision. Iglesias may be the Cuban Adam Everett, but let me know when he hits 20 doubles in a season.

Give Davey Johnson credit - he may not have articulated it, but he seems to have realized this very thing 25 years ago, when he was playing Kevin Mitchell and Howard Johnson at SS and Gregg Jefferies at 2B.

If you've got Dwight Gooden and Sid Fernandez starting a combined 65-70 games, you can get away with awful middle infield defense 40% of the time.

#14 I did a little digging and it's interesting to note that Kevin Mitchell's early starts were behind primarily Ojeda and ... well pretty much anybody but Fernandez and Gooden. Later on he'd play SS behind the guys you'd expect.

Mind you he was starting Hojo at SS pretty consistently behind Fernandez. 5 straight Fernandez starts featured Hojo at SS (and Hojo only started 22 games at SS)

but let me know when he hits 20 doubles in a season.

Pretty much any hitter's gonna get 20 doubles playing half his games in Fenway.

I've been rooting for him for years, but I fear that Iglesias is not our shortstop of the future. As D-S Mechanic points out in #9, the Drew signing indicates that the Sox FO wasn't willing to start Iglesias this season. I would add that had they wanted to, they had the political capital to do so pretty much risk-free. In addition, Xander Bogaerts has yet to be moved to 3B (by the Red Sox, at least) and he may well be ready to be a major league starter in 2014. It looks to me like Iglesias had better show something at the plate pdq or else he's trade fodder.