The Short Stop Issue

[ability]

The Short Stop Issue.

The position of short stop for the Red Sox has been a complete revolving door since the departure of Nomar Garciaparra on July 31, 2004. Since that date the Red Sox have had Orlando Cabrera, Pokey Reese, Edgar Renteria, Alex Cora, Alex Gonzalez and Julio Lugo in that position. Along with a ton of other lesser named players every now and again (i.e. Cesar Crespo, Ricky Gutierrez, Ramon Vazquez, Alejandro Machado, etc., etc.). With those players have come the offensively talented - Garciaparra. The defensive wizards, Cabrera, Reese and Gonzalez. The big name bust, Renteria. And the general average ball player, Alex Cora. Currently the Red Sox are trotting out Julio Lugo as the everyday short stop, and because of that I have to ask — where are the short stops?

[ljshorty89]

I'll offer you (bc i have that authority) ruben gotay for josh beckett :-P

[Lance324]

They should have held on to Cabrera, then they definitely should have given Renteria more than just one year. If you remember correctly, we practically paid Atlanta to take Renteria for Andy Marte, then we promptly traded Marte of Coco Crisp. I would certainly take Renteria right now over Crisp. Marte, he hasn't done anything yet, and isn't spoken of at nearly the same regard he once was. That Renteria to Atlanta deal was one of the poorer moves I feel Epstein has made, that and Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo. I didn't see the point of getting rid of Gonzalez, he should have won the gold glove that year.
Well, now we have Lugo... Unless you want to keep this turnstyle going, I think the Sox should give him another year before we go barking down his throat. I didn't like the signing of Lugo, and still don't, but you can't bring players in for one year and then give up on them. They've invested the money, now give the man a chance. Also, we won the World Series with him, so why are you complaining?

[love_that_reefer]

Marte would look good in a Giants uniform.

[Lance324]

I'm not ready to call Marte a total flop yet, or even a flop. He's only 23 years old, but when we got him back in the offseason prior to '06 he was said to be an "almost ML ready can't miss prospect". Well, he has almost 300 AB's in the ML's and has managed a whopping 6 HR's and a .201 BA. Ok, so maybe he wasn't/isn't quite ready for the ML's... Well, that could be, but he's spent two seasons of 96 games each in Buffalo and managed only a .264 BA and 31 HR's between the two seasons. He sure doesn't look "can't miss" any more. Bottom line is right now, today... I would take Renteria over Coco Crisp, Marte and Lugo combined!!!!!!
He would be a darn good fit for the Giants though, they need a 3rd baseman, and are in a rebuilding stage anyways.

[Lance324]

Here's a decent article on that trade, except it leaves a key part of the Cleveland deal out in Kelly Shoppach, boy the Sox screwed up not once but twice in that mess...

Trade review: Andy Marte and Edgar Renteria -- The Hardball Times

I sure would like to have Shoppach and Renteria right now, instead of Crisp, Lugo and Mirabelli. I cringe everytime I see Mirabelli in a Red Sox uniform.

[catman]

When Jed Lowrie finally makes it to the bigs (could be as soon as this season), the problem should be solved. He is a legitimate contender for ROY if he plays the full season in Boston.

[love_that_reefer]

I really like Shoppach and think he can be a damn good catcher given the chance. I am very surprised teams did not seek him in a trade this offseason since Victor Martinez improved so much.

[Lance324]

I sure would like to have him catching when Varitek needs a rest. It was really stupid IMO to include him in that trade, we could use a good young defensive catcher. Right there's one of the biggest weaknesses of this team, depth at catcher. If Varitek goes down with an injury like he did a few years ago, who is going to step in? Mirabelli sucks.

[Bosox21]

I didnt realize we really didnt have any guys on the horizon to take over for Tek.

Getting back to the SS topic, Lugo drove me nuts in the postseason. He never seemed to get a hit or do anything productive when we needed him to. I hope that we can get someone who doesnt hit as poorly as he did when we need it.

[Saber]

There is no shortstop problem is Lowrie can handle short, which is still a topic up for a lot of debate.

At catcher, though, the Red Sox have no one behind Varitek.