Red Sox management and medical team

Cue the crazy clown music! Accompanied by each member on a unicycle with sticks and spinning plates on top of them...yeah, you know the scene.

This one. Substitute injury du jour for Pee Wee's bike.

Bradford at weei.com reports Pedroia will be activated for tonight's game. There were reports that he wouldn't be back until well past the 15-day minimum, so you can't help but worry a bit that it's premature. On the other hand, the Sox medical staff is looking like they got two rehabs right, so maybe they could run off three in a row? It could happen. Sometimes Pedro Ciriaco hits .400.

The Sox are inching closer to having a pretty great lineup. Tonight's is

CF Ellsbury
LF Crawford
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
RF Ross
3B Middlebrooks
C Shoppach
SS Aviles
...

That looks really good. Facing a left-handed starter, that's eight bats that pose a real threat. Wait, eight bats? Where's the 9th?

DH Ciriaco

Oh. I do not get, at all, sending Mauro Gomez down and keeping Ciriaco up. With Ortiz out, the Sox need a right-handed DH type, and they do not need to carry two utility men with Aviles and Pedroia both active.

But the overall story is still the happy one. That's a good lineup, and the one against righties where two or three of Salty, Nava, and Sweeney get in there is very good too.

What the ####### #### is Valentine ####### doing? Pedro ####### Ciriaco is ####### DHing? What the ####?

I saw that lineup and did a cartoonish double take. It seems ridiculously obvious that having Gomez on the roster makes more sense; Gomez DH/Ross RF against LHP, Nava DH/Sweeney RF against RHP.

My gut reaction is that this is a sign that the Sox are not wowed by Nick Punto and want Ciriaco around until Pedroia provides some certainty of health. Alternatively, if Ciriaco can keep this going for another week or two maybe they think they can trade him for someone's live arm in Single A or something like that.

What the ####### #### is Valentine ####### doing? Pedro ####### Ciriaco is ####### DHing? What the ####?

So that's a "no" vote.

It's frankly ridiculous that they don't have Gomez or Lavarnway on the roster to DH while Ortiz is on the DL.

Or if they'd held onto Lillibridge instead of Ciriaco, they could DH Crawford or Ross and have Lillibridge in the OF against LHP.

Why can't they bring up Lavarnway and have him catch and have Salty/Shoppach DH? Doesn't that seem reasonable?

Why can't they bring up Lavarnway and have him catch and have Salty/Shoppach DH? Doesn't that seem reasonable?

You mean have Lavarnway DH, right?

The problem is that you're benching Nava for Lavarnway against RHP. That doesn't seem like a win to me. What the Sox need is either a RH platoon DH, or to give Daniel Nava a shot batting righty to see if maybe his platoon splits are a BABIP fluke.

I do think that complaining about Ciriaco buries the lede a bit. Even with Pedro Ciriaco DH'ing, that's among the best lineups the Red Sox have had all season. This is a really good club when healthy.

What the hell is Mauro Gomez if not a RH platoon DH? Optioning him is silly if Ciriaco is going to be DHing against LHP for the next two weeks.

What the Sox need is either a RH platoon DH

I think the Cubs have one who is available.

What the hell is Mauro Gomez if not a RH platoon DH? Optioning him is silly if Ciriaco is going to be DHing against LHP for the next two weeks.

Of course. I didn't mean to suggest that the Sox didn't have a perfectly acceptable platoon DH already. I just meant, in response to Joel, that the hole on the roster (a short-side platoon DH) isn't a great fit for Ryan Lavarnway. It is indeed a great fit for Mauro Gomez.

I'd be fine with Nava full time, too. He hasn't looked comfortable from the right side, but by the numbers, the sample is small and the component numbers other than BABIP aren't bad.

I just meant that what they need (a part time RHB DH) isn't a great fit for Ryan Lavarnway.

Why wouldn't this be a great fit for Lavarnway? It probably benefits the Sox to have Lavarnway continuing to hone his craft at Pawtucket but I think there is a very real chance that he is a better RHB DH than Mauro Gomez is right now.

I don't doubt Lavarnway would be good at it, but (a) I doubt he'd be much better than Gomez, and (b) I'd rather he play every day than every third day.

I meant that Lavarnway's development wouldn't be served by playing only two or three games a week, and so he isn't a good fit for the roster for that reason.

You are just not using the designated hitter right if you are batting him 9th. I remember having this same reaction in the aught-deuce world series.

I can only assume that "Ciriaco - DH" is Valentine just continuing to ride the hot hand until it goes ice cold. While it's a move that makes no sense whatsoever, Valentine does seem to have a weird knack for getting things like this to work out.

Still, it is nice to see a lineup with Ellsbury/Crawford/Pedroia again. I can only imagine how it might look if/when everyone is healthy and Papi gets back in there.

I meant that if they're concerned about Lavarnway's development as a catcher, why not have him come up and catch and not lose out on the bats of Saltalamacchia/Shoppach?

Oh by the way, Kevin Youkilis is out tonight with hamstring tightness.

You are just not using the designated hitter right if you are batting him 9th. I remember having this same reaction in the aught-deuce world series.

Line-up doesn't matter that much, and even if Ciriaco were .290/.350/.400...I'd bet he'd be better than a number of DH's used in recent years.

even if Ciriaco were .290/.350/.400...I'd bet he'd be better than a number of DH's used in recent years.

The guy has a career .649 OPS at AAA, despite playing 1/3 of his AAA games for Reno in the PCL!

Hey, for most teams other than the Red Sox, putting random people at DH instead of an actual DH is the normal way to do it. This year the Orioles have given a combined 12 starts at DH to Wilson Betemit, Ronny Paulino and Bill Hall. The Rays have put Elliot Johnson, Stephen Vogt, and Jose ####### Lobaton out there at DH, plus Jeff Keppinger on seven non-consecutive occasions.

ZiPS RoS projection for Ciriaco: .261/.273/.350

Just about everyone that Crispix mentioned is significantly better than that, especially when you consider that guys like Paulino and Keppinger were only DHing against LHP due to strong career platoon numbers.

Ciriaco just called y'all from third base to say, "Suck it!"

He looked good in ST too, don't forget. Cut Punto...keep Ciriaco up.

The guy has a career .649 OPS at AAA, despite playing 1/3 of his AAA games for Reno in the PCL!

Somebody should make Ciriaco read his own stats.

The weird thing about Ciriaco is that he's now been called up 3 times and has done well each time in very short stints.

Well, at least we're not alone. Brett Gardner is going to get his elbow scoped and likely out for the season. When he got hurt in April, he had a bone bruise.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/19/brett-gardner-to-have-elbow-surgery-next-week-likely-done-for-season

Ciriaco is DHing again tonight.

Cut Punto

Can't cut the Shredder. The Shredder cuts you.

Can they please just send Crawford to James Andrews to get TJ surgery already? He hasn't contributed a ####### thing since he's come back, hasn't had a single XBH, and he's being replaced for defense by Daniel Nava late in close games. There is absolutely no point in running him out there like this. It's embarrassing to Crawford, the organization, and the medical staff.

Per PeteAbe from a few days ago:

On the advice of Dr. James Andrews, righthander Scott Atchison will try rest and rehab on his torn ulnar collateral ligament instead of Tommy John surgery.

So, again, the Red Sox opt for rest and rehab instead of surgery for a player, while one of the most noted sports surgeons recommends... the same?!? I totally did not see that coming.