The Injury Replacement Rises

...and when Mike Napoli's hip is ashes... then, they will have Daniel's permission to start.

The Mike Napoli Insurance Plan

With Mike Napoli still unsigned, Daniel investigates the next-best Michael in the first-base market.

The Advanced Scout – Cleveland Indians

The Advanced Scout pores over statistics of the California Penal League and analyzes the Cleveland Indians

Potential Trade Partners for Kevin Youkilis: First Base

Chip doubles back to Monday's column, and examines potential first base partners for a potential Kevin Youkilis trade.

The Advanced Scout – Cleveland Indians

The Advanced Scout starts pounding Sam Adams Imperial Whites and analyzes the Cleveland Indians. Hic.

6/16: Can Beckett pitch again today?

Boston Red Sox (40-27) @ Tampa Bay Rays (36-32) Clay Buchholz (5-3, 3.59) @ David Price (7-5, 3.51) 7:10 PM…

Bill Hall and the free home runs

First of all, I would like to thank the Milwaukee Brewers organization for footing the tab on Bill Hall and most of his $8.5 million dollar salary. It’s nice every time Hall blasts a 400-foot shot over the Green Monster that I’m able to think, “Hey, that home run was almost free.”

In January 2010, there was a MLB deal that amounted to a three-team interaction. The Red Sox acquired Hall from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Casey Kotchman. Hall had just been traded to Seattle in late 2008 and Milwaukee was still on the hook for the contract. Milwaukee had sent Hall to Seattle with a wheelbarrow full of hundred dollars bills, just to get rid of him.

Recapping Kotchman, Chapman in Cincinnati

Kotchman to Seattle With all the positive moves the Red Sox have made this off-season, it’s a bit curious that Casey Kotchman became the first player expendable in the wake of the Adrian Beltre acquisition. Following the trade, the party line claimed that Kotchman became obsolete - and expendable - with four starting-caliber corner infielders on the roster. While it is certainly true that the team does not need four such players to man two positions (Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Beltre, Mike Lowell, Kotchman), it seems as if the team has forgotten that they have been aggressively shopping Mike Lowell since November. Following a trade of Mike Lowell – whose occurrence is a near certainty – the team is likely to be without a quality reserve corner infielder. Sure, Jed Lowrie and Bill Hall will be able to man the position in the event of injury and off-days, but what kind of upgrade do they provide over Kotchman? In the event of a significant injury to Beltre or Youkilis, both Hall and Lowrie would be completely miscast as a full-time option. In addition, with Beltre missing 51 games this past season, entrusting the insurance policy to either option is a very dangerous proposition...

Lars Anderson looking like a younger Casey Kotchman

I think Casey Kotchman should be a warning to any long term success we might expect from Lars Anderson. This is also just a discussion of their offense as Kotchman has a much better glove. Kotchman was a much higher draftpick going in the first round of the 2001 draft while Anderson was an 18th round pick. So what is it that makes these two have anything in common? First is that they have excellent plate discipline. Even at the minor league level they both have between a half a walk to a full walk for every strikeout. Anderson strikes out quite a bit more, but he walks a lot more too. All things being equal Kotchman would probably have a better average, but their OBP would be close. An interesting comparison is how Baseball America viewed them. In 2005 BA ranked Kotchman #6 and had this quote from a scout. "He's such a good hitter and he's still developing. I think he'll easily hit 30-plus homers in the majors. As we have seen that power never came and now Kotchman is more of a 10-15 homer guy at a power position.

Red Sox deal Casey Kotchman for Bill Hall

It's been spread on Twitter that Casey Kotchman is headed to the Mariners for Bill Hall, a minor league PTBNL and cash considerations. When I first saw this deal I was curious to what this accomplished, but after looking at the numbers this makes a bit more sense. The cash is likely the money that Seattle got from the Brewers when they got Hall to cover some of his 2010 contract. So they are probably not adding contract and could be dropping some.