Buchholz has been great in his 3 starts… but with him only making 3 starts is he hurt?

He has been on the DL for the past couple 'o weeks, as has Soto. Mota was recently activated, fwiw.

Natale has been playing the field rather consistently lately, though he DH'ed last night. When the season started he did 2 @ DH followed by 1 @ 2B, or so. Now that is close to reversed. Or it just in my head. Either way, I'd like to see him field a little more.

Mendoza was part of the waiver wars with SD, you may recall. The Sox had him on the 40, dropped him and he was claimed by SD. SD then did the same and he was claimed by the Sox, who eventually were able to drop him off without a claim.

Choi's power was a lot in the away stadiums, which is more impressive to me. (milb has split data on their gameday broadcast, which is nice.)

Ellsbury is also on the DL.

-- MWE

Martinez is old for AA, but you have to remember that he's only thrown fewer than 100 professional innings in his career. 17K/1(ONE!) walk in 12.2IP looks to me like he knows what he's doing. He's on the 40-man, so I wouldn't be surprised if he advanced all the way to Boston at some point this year, even if it's just for a look-see.

Since Sox minor leaguers have been a little underwhelming so far this year, I checked on some of the players traded away last winter. Anibal(AA), Delgado and Garcia (High A) all have some pretty good-looking numbers in the Florida system, though Garcia has cooled off. Anibal's (barely) over a K per inning with a K/BB ratio of 3.6. Delgado's struck out 23 in 16 innings, but 9 BB is a few too many. Garcia started lights out (sorry, no numbers), but looks pedestrian now. I still think he's a sleeper, even after learing that he throws with his right hand.

Andy Marte: Is he hurt? I've heard some rumblings, but he's been playing; just not hitting much: .284/.394/.383, nary a homer. Those numbers are kind of Youkilish (Youkilesque?). Not bad, but not what I was expecting. I looks like Aaron Boone's luck continues.

In Wilmington Old Man Jeff Natale looks to be making a case for better competition.

There's a new 23-year-old grandpa in A ball: Bubba Bell, 39th rounder out of Nicholls State, hitting .385 .500 .577 in Greenville in 26 AB. 6:3 BB:K. Fun team in an otherwise kind of unfun system right now.

On the pitching side Alvarez is pushing for Dinardo’s roster spot, and Matt Ginter has been a pleasant surprise.

Agreed on Ginter, but Alvarez's peripherals are just awful. 29 IP, 14, 10 BB, 4 HR. God, that just stinks. I prefered his performance last year, when he had nice K/BB but a high ERA. Is it possible that I've been wrong about him? Nah.

Since Sox minor leaguers have been a little underwhelming so far this year, I checked on some of the players traded away last winter.

Want to get depressed? Take a look at Murton, and of course, Hanley, who's hitting better in the Majors than he did in AA last year. Yeah, that makes sense.

I'm a little depressed that Soto, Ellsbury, Buchholz, and now Lowrie have gone on the DL. But what can you do? None of their injuries are terribly serious and they will be back in due time. It's the normal attrition of minor leaguers. I'm used to it by now.

Speaking of Murton, since both Papelbon and him appear that they will be at least above average major leaguers, can we dub Theo's first draft a success? Abe seems like a destined Padre, where I actually think he can put up a 4.2 ERA. But nonetheless, two players is really all you can hope for from any draft.

Lets wait on Hanley. He notoriously got off to hot starts in the Sox system, and it appears like he is continuing that pattern for the Marlins. I'm not saying he won't be an above average SS this year, but his OPS seems to be dropping every day (he's also killing lefties). I wouldn't be surprised if it stabilized around .760, which still is respectable for an above average defensive SS.

I'm not saying he won't be an above average SS this year, but his OPS seems to be dropping every day (he's also killing lefties).

I am saying it: he won't be an above average SS this year. I just cannot fathom that happening.

More depressing trade stuff: how about Renteria hitting .373 .417 .537 plus 2 hits tonight with just 2 errors. Thanks for nothing, Edgar.

Speaking of Murton, since both Papelbon and him appear that they will be at least above average major leaguers, can we dub Theo's first draft a success?

Yes, I think two above average MLers makes a draft a very good one.

Hanley plays well when perfectly healthy. For whatever reason, the slightest ache or pain throws him way out of his comfort zone. I haven't kept close track of him the last couple weeks, but it looks like he's having more trouble making contact (which is worrisome).

Has anyone seen Pedroia or heard anything about his play? Take this for what it is worth, but today on WEEI an emailer wrote that his 'source' in the Sox front office said that Pedroia looked overweight and slow.

He looked a bit pudgy in the ST pictures I saw.

Well, that report contradicts what was reported during spring training, that he came to camp bulked up but buff.

no it doesn't. the extra bulk may cause him to look slow and overweight.

Choi's cleared waivers and will be optioned to Pawtucket.

-- MWE

How does coming to camp buff equate with looking slow and overweight?

Any kind of weight can slow you down, whether it's muscle or fat. He might have put on some of both.

Gammo was on EEI today--his opinion is that Petunia could be called up soon if Loretta and Gonzalez don't get their acts together.

There was some interview recently where Cherington or someone said they were completely hands off with Pedroia WRT to his hitting/fielding, but that he needed to learn to manage his weight. He does have a stocky build that would let itself to getting too pudgy. There's also this picture.


Gammo was on EEI today--his opinion is that Petunia could be called up soon if Loretta and Gonzalez don't get their acts together.

How about Pedroia gets his act together first.

Doesn't look too big in this picture from a month or so ago, but I think this is the quote you were talking about:

He began last year at 185 pounds, plummeted to 165 by season's end, and reported this spring at 190, though he's fallen to 182 since.

''I have trouble keeping on weight," he said. ''They told me to put on as much strength as possible, upper body and lower body."

The difficulty, at the moment, is putting on good weight and keeping it. The team prescribed specific conditioning expectations after last season and checked in with Pedroia during the offseason.

''We didn't see him between early-to-mid-January and reporting, and he had put on some weight during that time," Cherington said. ''He felt he'd naturally be able to lose it. As Dustin matures he'll find a way to manage body weight and body fat."

Weight management is crucial because, given his 5-foot-9-inch frame, Pedroia needs all the flexibility and maneuverability he can muster.

"Otherwise, he's hands-off for us," Cherington said. ''He has such an advanced approach to the game, at the plate, there's not a lot of day-to-day teaching, more talking to him about how to take care of himself properly."

In case you couldn't tell, the picture I posted appears to actually be Dustan Mohr.

In case you couldn't tell, the picture I posted appears to actually be Dustan Mohr.

either that or pedroia's been playing some center and right field for the big club!

Oddly, it's not the same shot they used for Mohr's profile page. Instead, it's another picture from the same shoot.

Compare: Dustan Mohr, Dustin Pedroia

Apparently, Pedroia is the sad half, and Mohr is the happy half.

Jon Lester managed a pretty good start last night. Five shutout innings, 4 H, 1 BB, 4 K. Hardly dominating stuff, but after a disappointing first month of the season, and a crypto-fascist pitch count, it's nice to see him just throwing a good game. Hopefully he's got whatever was messed up sorted out - my optimistic theory is that the pitch count got into his head - and we'll see continued improvement this month.

Mike Bowden had a mediocre start (5 IP, 2 R, 4 K), and allowed another HR. It seems like he's just a notch of consistency away from being a legitimate top prospect, though it's worth noting that notch of consistency can be very hard to acquire.

A big thing with Hanley, at least I think so, is that his batting stance and pre-swing hand movements are different from what they were last year. He's opened up his stance and he's swirling his hands; he looks very smooth and fluid at the plate. I find his swing to be very beautiful now and he's making hard contact. When I saw him at Portland, I was very disappointed. This was the much-hyped prospect? The one who should be playing free safety for Florida State according Gammons. I found him to be a very bland looking hitter who flipped the bat at the ball rather than driving at it.

I don't know whether he made these changes during winter ball by himself or whether it was the Marlins who retooled his swing but if it was the latter, then good for him. Which is to say, if he had remained a Red Sox, I think he would have fallen short of expectations, which I'm aware he still could with the Marlins.

Just noticed this over at SoSH:

"As noted in last night's ml Gameday thread, Hansen threw 64 pitches for the PawSox last night, up from 53 in his previous outing, and he was pitching with four days rest instead of three, which he had been doing most of the season to date.

"So he's on a starter's schedule and is probably two outings away from being stretched out enough to throw 80-90 pitches. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him starting for Pawtucket within a week or two."

As another poster goes on to note, converting Hansen in this way (if that's what they're doing-- and 64 pitches looks nearly dispositive to me) does not preclude his becoming a reliever in the major leagues-- the handling of Papelbon makes that clear. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Just thinking this over: it seems like Hansen is now throwing the same number of pitches as Lester was recently. Perhaps they have some system in place now for developing young pitchers that can conceivably work for both starters and relievers.

So, speaking of Lester, he was interviewed on EEI, and someone put up notes on SoSH (speculation there is he's being lined up to make a start for the Sox soon):

http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?showtopic=6147

He makes a few semi-interesting remarks. Says walks is the stat he pays most attention to, e.g.

speculation there is he's being lined up to make a start for the Sox soon

It's been mentioned in several places that the plan was for him to make one of the starts during the June 10 doubleheader then head back to AAA. That's in general what they've been talking about there, though a few of the more speculative comments held him out as a possibility to take over Clement's spot if Clement headed to the DL.

Just read somewhere that Theo said Lester won't be brought up to pitch against Yanks.