Alejandro De Aza Spotlight Edition

The Big Papi to first base debate is raging here in Boston.  Should he?  How dare he complain!  Shouldn't he?  He can say whatever he wants!  He's a crybaby!  On and on it goes.  And of course there is the Hanley Ramriz spa day experience in left field.  At the base of this is the premise that the best Red Sox lineup has Papi at first, Ramirez at DH, and one Alejandro De Aza in left field.  This is because De Aza actually tries while Hanley doesn't want to bend over (you cannot make this stuff up).  So is he worth being the third cog in the carnival wheel of the Red Sox clubhouse or just more grist for the waiver wire?



John Farrell's unprompted praise of De Aza says a lot more about the absence of motivation is the regular lineup than his own merit.  This year he's walking a touch less and getting a big boost in power (for him).  If he was on another team he would get more of a chance to run but he's on the Red Sox so his 18% Stolen Base Opportunity (SBO), while good for the station to station style of the Sox, is likely to keep his steals down.  If this was the early 2000's I'd say his impressive jump in slugging is a harbinger of more to come.  Unfortunately we're in a different world now and his home runs, even in part time duty, are an outlier.  As much as John Farrell tries desperately to use De Aza as a lesson in hard work, get ready for more Hanley in left and De Aza on the bench.

Until next time,

The SAHD