Terry Francona Doesn't Want Mike Lowell To Play First Base

Red Sox manager Terry Francona said today that he's against having Mike Lowell play first base:

"No, I’m not for it. You’re talking about a guy who’s played third base his whole life. He could do it, I just don’t know it’s as easy as everyone thinks.’’

I think Lowell would gain a lot of value by playing first base. Obviously he doesn't need as much range, so he should play pretty well over there. But it looks like we won't be seeing that at all unless there's an injury down the line.

A little more on Marco Scutaro, as Francona expressed his thoughts on his new shortstop:

"I know how much (the Red Sox) value their draft picks, I know what they’ve done with them but this is a good get for us.

"Of people don’t realize who he is, I don’t think they realize what a good sign this is for us. We went from having four shortstops last year and when (Alex Gonzalez) came in, he had such a calming effect. To have that from day one, then we have a guy who can get on-base, so we can do some different things. It will help us. And we’ve got Victor (Martinez) for a full year, and we’ve got this guy at short, it’s amazing how quickly some things can look better.’’