Agon's In The Outfield Edition

Danny Glover's got nothin' on this team.  Is it possible?  Could there be grit and determination being shown by our beloved Old Towne Team?  The plethora of roster moves yesterday:

1. Cody Ross placed on the 15 day DL
2. Ryan Sweeney goes on the newfangled 7 day Concussion DL
3. Daisuke was moved to the 60 day DL
4. Kevin Youkilis was activated
5. Scott Podsednik was added to the big leagues

The mildly shocking move not made was young Will Middlebrooks remained with the Sox instead of being sent to AAA.  The ripples of this are wide for this team, despite Valentine downplaying them in this morning's interview with WEEI.  The the last two lineups (last night's and this afternoon's) have been incredibly interesting, with Middlebrooks staying at third, Youkilis to first, and Adrian Gonzalez in right field.  That's right, a day after the longest tenured Sox slugger David Ortiz barked about disrespect, showing a totally out of whack world view, the lack of comments from Gonzalez have been deafening.  Gonzalez has taken a page out of Kevin Garnett's grab bag of child-like behavior and said more or less to Valentine 'Put me in coach!'.  This is a gold glove All Star first baseman with a $20 million + a year contract who could absolutely make a stink.  He's stepping out of the way so Youkilis can play first because he can't field a lick in the outfield and Middlebrooks can remain at third.   Youk is clearly going to be shown the door sometime within the next week, this Blog's guess is he'll be gone by the time Ross can come back.

This is a sea-change we see before us.  Valentine is getting what he wants.  And the players are with him.  Remember when Valentine had a rare moment of honesty and dissed Youkilis in the mildest of ways and supposed leader Pedroia pronounced Valentine had to learn how things were done around here?  Where is that now?  Why isn't the team saying how wrong it is to have Agone go to right for the short term to help the team showcase Youkilis for an inevitable trade?  Because Gonzalez has made it clear he's going to do what he needs to do help the team win.  If Papi was such a leader it would be all about disrespect today.  Youkilis disrespected because he lost his third base job to injury, Gonzalez disrespected because he's been sent to right field.  The likes of Valentine and Gonzalez are driving this boat now, the days of Papi, the pitching staff, and Pedroia's amazing on-field exploits have taken a back seat, and the Will Middlebrooks era has begun.

Thanks for everything Youk, from the bottom of this Blog's heart, a celebration of what you've done for Sox nation will be along soon.

Until next time,

The SAHD