| 29 April 2010
When David Ortiz was benched in favor of Mike Lowell back on April 20th, it seemed to mark the beginning of the end for Big Papi.
He responded with his first homer of the season the following night, but was benched on the 24th with a good lefty on the mound and K'd with the tying runs on base as pinch hitter late in that game. Marco Scuatro saved the day with a 3-run homer...
... you know, the guy with 52 career home runs, two less than the 54 Ortiz had in 2006.
We knew Ortiz would start sitting against lefties with Lowell still on the roster, but when Tito pulled Ortiz in favor of Lowell again on Tuesday, it proved that Francona and the Red Sox have lost confidence in their DH.
Lowell and Victor Martinez are adequate replacement for Ortiz at DH, but the Sox do have some options, should they decide to cut bait and make a trade for a slugger at the All-Star break.
Ryan Howard was one option, but he recently signed an extension with the Phillies, indicating that Philly felt it was necessary to lock up their big guy before a team like the Sox could steal him away. That leaves slugger like Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez and Adam Dunn. We had some thoughts on these guys in the offseason, so I thought it would be fun to pull those up again.
Dunn whiffs alot, but he might be the most consistent hme run hitter of the bunch - just look at all those 40s! Fielder and A-Gon are both under 30, so that gives them an edge, but both guys won't actually hit the free agent market until 2011, so the Sox will have to convince their respected GMs to cut bait early... which could be tricky.
The other piece of this puzzle is the bus-full of prospects the Sox will have to offer for any of these guys. Casey Kelly and Jose Iglesias are pretty much untouchable and Clay Buchholz is proving his worth right now while Beckett and Lackey make Theo look foolish for signing them to big contracts... so what will it cost us to get one of these guys? And will the price be too high?
Bottom Line: The Sox could ride Mike Lowell until his hips fall off and make a trade next year, but who will DH in April of 2011. Martinez could do it, but that would result in a serious juggling act for Francona, if he's asked to use Victor at DH and catcher while one of the kids (Wagner, Exposito, Ibarra) learns the ropes.
There are lots of options that we haven't even discussed here, like Carlos Pena (a FA after this year) or Albert Pujols who will likely test the FA market in 2011 as well... but who do you guys want the Sox go after?
And should they puch to make a switch now or are you willing to wait and see if Ortiz can turn it back on in the second half again?
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