I figured this board would be full of Aaron Laffey comments...mostly negative. Caught him in Dunedin when they played the Sox toward the end of the season. Pretty much looked like batting practise. The discouraging thing was that the soxs had mostly minor league players in. His ERA did not look that bad last year but his ST was a disaster from what I saw. I think his WHIP was about 1.35 in ST...bad enough but the day I saw him there were balls hit right one the screws for an out. Anyway it is just ST and he might be our new secret Weapon...grin

Lowe is better than Doubront.

It's the top 3 and Ortiz that will be Boston's main source of offence. Youk is dead!

I would not discount him yet...remember how we were going to destroy Lowe? here is a short descriptor. I like us against flame throwers better than junk pitchers. Might be a frustrating night to start.

"Armed with a high 80s fastball that tops out at 91 mph, Doubront has a very good curveball with an improving slider and good control. His deceptive delivery results in hitters not being able to pick up the ball until late. The late pick up also makes his fastball look faster to opposing hitters".

"Same here. With Bard going tomorrow this has the makings of a good series for us."

If things go off the rails, I'll know who to blame.

Here is some video of his ST start against the Yanks.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20180071&c_id=mlb

Video mainly shows his fastball with a couple changeups at the end. Doesn't seem to have too much movement on the FB, but the change seemed to have some decent downward action at the end. Hopefully we'll be able to work counts to expose his control issues and then get into their tired pen.

Love that Farrell took Lind out of the clean up spot vs the lefty, and like that he gave Davis the start. However like others have said it makes no sense not to have Davis bat 9th.

"However like others have said it makes no sense not to have Davis bat 9th."

scary that the jays have JPA, rasmus and then Escobar at the top. this years version of the black hole so far. they have a combined OBP=OMG! those 3 need to stop making outs!

I really hope Davis has a good night. if he can kill against lefties, he will get a full time platoon job with thames.

if escobar cant start getting on base, davis might lead off against lefties....

Gotta give Escobar more than 3 games, but he has certainly looked terrible.

I expect Alverez to go 'till the 7th inning, and then have either Janssen or Cordero pick up the 8th and 9th would be Santos - if there is a save situation. Henderson can give us a solid start against Boston IMO, and Doubront won't last past 6..... Just predicting :P

not saying tomorrow... but escobar needs to get it going. obp of .105 so far is not helping. sure, I'd rather have Escobar hit .280 with a 375 OBP.... but, he's gotta start.

"scary that the jays have JPA, rasmus and then Escobar at the top. this years version of the black hole so far. they have a combined OBP=OMG! those 3 need to stop making outs!"

Can you stop being so reactionary please.

I tried already, he wouldn't listen.

People need to not look up any stats until about a month into the season (at the earliest).

"Can you stop being so reactionary please."

can you stop trying to control the world?

I have not called for DFAs, I have not called them bums or useless... just stating the fact they are not part of the offense so far. what are they... 3 for 45? yes, JPA ran into a mistake. but all 3 have had ugly swings so far.

maybe you need to switch to decaffeinated? ;-) it's a discussion. dont throw me in the group with ecjf!

"People need to not look up any stats until about a month into the season (at the earliest). "

there is a weather channel if you dont want to talk baseball.