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| (Keith Philpott for TIME) |
Scott Lauber points out in today's
Boston Herald that Uber-Sabermatrician (and Red Sox employee)
Bill James is wicked bullish on third baseman Will Middlebrooks. In his brand new
Bill James Handbook, the former
Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery worker projects Middlebrooks to hit 32 HRs, drive in 104 and put up an OPS of .800. Can you say MVP? If the nerds in the front office are as convinced as James, there's no way that
Stephen Drew is signed as the everyday shortstop. If that unlikely event
did happen,
Xander Bogaerts would get most of the 3B starts and Middlebrooks would be—well—you-know-what out of luck. The way the new Red Sox front office works, it's
much more likely that they spurn Drew, go with the kids and see what happens in 2014.
