Does Jed Lowrie's Success make Jose Iglesias expendable

I was merely responding to witt-K’s use of the word “proven” with regard to Jed Lowrie. I like Lowrie. But, aside from the fact that he has been great in stretches and has good minor league numbers, we really don’t know what to expect. At worst, Lowrie is a usefully utility player who hits lefties well. Chances are, he’ll be a decent to good everyday player with average defense at three positions. At best, he’ll be an .820-.850 OPS hitter with slightly above average defense at SS, making him one of the better SS in baseball.

All I was showing is that so far, Lowrie this year hasn’t been much better than Scutaro last year. Lowrie has never played a full season, and both his highs and lows are small samples. However, Lowrie does have far more upside than Scutaro and should play SS until he proves that he isn’t better than Scutaro. One thing is certain, though. The way Lowrie hits lefties makes him valuable on this Sox team.

As for Iglesias, who knows? He may end up being the next Omar Vizquel or the next Rey Ordonez.

So you would rank Lowrie in the bottom third of SS?

I love Jed the hitter. He’s superior to both Scutaro and Iglesias (thus far). But as a middle infielder, defense is of the utmost importance. His hitting was really needed at the beginning of the season, but now that A-Gon, Youk, Ells & Crawford have rediscovered their offense, that is less of a priority.
I am not as impressed with Jed’s defense. With the management’s focus on defense up the middle, I don’t think they’d trade Iglesias unless he turned into a .220 singles hitter. His average is higher, but he needs to develop some power. Fortunately, the kid is just that- still a kid and should gain power.
Interesting to see Lowrie’s HR’s drop from last year. But I’m quite happy with his offensive production so far.

If the Sox are gonna move Iglesias, I would hope Theo is smart enough to get a young arm who is projected to be a starter. I mean young SSs have to be one of the most difficult players for an organization to obtain and worth A LOT.

Jose might end up having the worst bat at short in the AL as it stands now. Navarro, if what he’s showing us is real, has the ability to be Jose and Jed combined into one unstoppable machine. But I’m not particularly worried about Jed’s defense going forward, he’s had a couple flubs but I don’t think it’s been taking away from the team much, just like Youk’s. I think Jed would actually be a better 3B, but keeping Papi would preclude that from being an option.

In terms of defense stats, his few innings at the position is hardly enough to make any judgement, one big error this early in the season will throw those numbers off a lot, I think by the end of the year he’ll work out to roughly average.

…so I suppose it should’ve been “next year or the year after”, especially if he continues to whoop arse like he is this year. I just don’t know if Youk’s defense can hold up at 3rd. Youk’s a competitor so he’ll give it 110% out there, which is more than you can say about some in the league. I don’t expect his defense to be at the top of the league at 3b but it won’t be at the bottom either, and his bat will make up for alot.

If Navarro can play decent defense than I would like to see Navarro be SS in the future, with Iglesias continuing to be a project. I think Navarro plays some 3B too so if Iglesias learns how to hit at all than maybe they are the left side of the infield a couple years from now and Lowrie is traded. There are some options right now and in the next year or two, which is a good problem to have.

It’s not like money is behind all the decisions with the Red Sox brass…but seeing as Jose got a $6 million signing bonus I would think the Red Sox will wait a while before doing too much with him. Until either he is ready to contribute at the MLB level or his trade value is high enough to get something good back. He’s young, so they have time.