It's a sad day, my friends. The coming of our shortstop of the next decade has been delayed, as Jose Iglesias was optioned to Pawtucket, along with Lars Anderson (no surprise there).
Many of us were holding out hope that Iglesias' flashy glove would outshine his weak bat, but it appears it was not enough.
It also makes you think Ben Cherington has a leg up on Bobby Valentine, which is actually the good news in this.
Cherington should be calling the shots on the development of young players, and if as an organization they really believe Jose needs more seasoning, I'm glad they didn't succumb to Bobby V's dreams of Rey Ordonez.
With that, Mike Aviles is your starting shortstop. The lineup gets a slight boost, but the pitchers (especially groundballer Aaron Cook) need to pay a little more attention. Less pitching to contact, more trying to get the ball past the guy. Because plenty of ball are going to get past Aviles.
I don't hate Aviles by any means. He's a perfectly productive player, he's just no one's long-term answer. But to keep the seat warm for Jose while he figures out how to get over the Mendoza line, you could do a lot worse than Aviles.
Original Story:
|
March 27, 2012
