Got a chance to listen to a little of the tv broadcast today of the Cubs/Sox game. In the few mins I got to hear, Hawk was saying that this year's team may be the best defense the Sox have had in the last 26 years!!!?!?!?!

Umm, did I miss something, is Quentin still a regular in the outfield?

Gotta love Hawk.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Beckham, Rios, and Alexei up the middle is without question the best defense they have had in a long, long time. They have among the best gloves in the league at the 2 most important defensive positions on the diamond.

_________________

All of that is true, but that does not mean this is the best defense the TEAM has had in the last 26 years.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Hawk always talks like that. The best in 26 years in this case means the best since 2005. As Hawk gets older his "years" just sort of morph into one long season.

_________________

The infield defense should be pretty good, our center fielder is good, our left fielder can catch but can't throw. Our RF is one of the worst in the mlb and I do not think he will hit particularly well either.

_________________
" THis poster said it's 90% that Bernstein goes national. He put a percentage on it. " - Beardown

Hawk is probably overstating his point, but I do think it's a much better defense. Morel is considered a plus defender, and Ramirez is a gold glove caliber SS. Beckham will need to improve and probably will since he's now in his 2nd straight year, and although Konerko doesn't have much range and grades out poorly in the sabermetrics, I disagree with some of that, and think he's a dependable defensive player at a position that doesn't matter a ton defensively....In the outfield, Pierre has no arm, but covers ground, Rios is a gifted defensive player and Quentin is obviously bad, but he doesn't bring down the whole defense on his own. Behind the plate, AJ doesn't throw anyone out, but it's the AL and teams aren't running laps on the bases. On the whole, I think it's a better than average, but hardly perfect. There will be growing pains at times with a young guy like Morel or a developing player like Beckham, we'll be frustrated with Pierre's puss arm and Quentin misplaying balls, but there's also 2 guys (Ramirez and Rios) who are plus defenders, and a few others with the potential to make the defense better than we've seen in recent years.

As to the original assertion of Quentin being bad, yes, he isn't good. But a RF has to be historically bad, to realistically affect a teams' run prevention in any tangible way. I'm not going to approach Hawk-level enthusiasm, but the Sock are good at the critical positions of SS, 3B, CF, and at least average in LF, 2B, 1B.

Look at what rivals Detroit and Minnesota are running out there. Tigers have a couple decent defenders in CF Austin Jackson and 3B Inge... and total nightmares at virtually every other position. Ordonez, Pheralta at short , Miggy at first, who knows what at 2b (Guillen, who is terrible with the glove), unknowns in left.. and VMart at C, who posssibly makes AJ look proficient at throwing out runners...

Even the vaunted "fundamental" Twins have 1 ok outfielder in Span, terrible corner outfield defense in Young/Kubel/Cuddyer, unknown up the middle with Casilla (book on him is lazy) and a Japanese import (not good precedents there... unless you loved the Kaz Matsui era) and I don't think Morneau, Valencia, Mauer, et al are known for their gloves...

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Again, no doubt the team has some good defenders at key positions. But to say it is the best defense the Sox have had in 26 years is quite a stretch.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

It very well may be a Stretch!!.

Ever since I have been observing the Sock, they traditionally run a softball team out there.

The only guys I ever remember being noted for their gloves were Guillen, Cameron in the couple years he was here, Crede, and to some extent Ventura. This is while they were playing a ton of heavy-lumber-no-glove guys like Frank (most of his games are at 1b), Albert Belle, Sax (couldn't even throw the ball to 1st from 2b ) El Caballo, Lyle Alzado, Dye, etc.etc.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011