Friday, March 16, 2012

Red Sox short stop situation

As some of you may know the Red Sox haven't had a consistant shortstop since Alex Gonzalez in 2009.  He was the last Red Sox shortstop to have good skills on both sides of the ball.  Yes i do agree he didnt have very much power but he had a consistant batting average .270 in 2 seasons in Boston.  After the Red Sox traded Nomar Garciaparra in '04 they have just had an endless carousel of shortstops coming and going.  The past 2 years they have had Marco Stutaro and Jed Lowrie at shortstop which was not that bad but could have been better.  As of now in spring training 3 shortstops are competing for the Opening Day starting job for shortstop. 

These 3 shortstops are Jose iglesias(left), Mike Aviles(center), and Nick Punto(right).  As of now Nick Punto is practically out of the race, leaving Jose iglesias (far left) and Mike Aviles(center) competing.  What Bobby V. might do is have Mike Aviles start and have Nick Punto be the backup and have Iglesias in the minors to polish up his hitting skills.  What I think he should do is have Jose Iglesias be the starter and just tell him to hit about a .250 batting average and save the runs in the field you dont produce at the plate.  Will this happen? Probably not.  I certainly think that Jose Iglesias has one of the top gloves in the league.  Practically all sports writers agree with that.  Will he be an All-star in 5 years?  Who knows.  He could be the next jeter for all we know.  He really needs to work on his hitting.  So far in spring training he has been doing pretty well at the plate.  He has a .300 batting average 3 RBIs in 4 games and 10 at bats.  He has incredible range on the field and has a 1.000 fielding percentage so far this spring.  Even though Nick Punto doesnt have the stats, he has the experience to be a good starting defensively minded shortstop and a great leader in the club house.

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