Look out Kostay – LaRoche is coming through

At 1:51 PM today, I got a text saying that the Sox acquired Adam LaRoche from Pittsburgh.  I had heard the name many times, but had never followed him much.  So I looked him up online and found out that LaRoche is a first baseman and will be used to give Lowell some days off.  I was pretty excited about this.  And with our recent struggles, why not grab another bat?

Then it hit me – What about Mark Kotsay?  Don’t we already use him to give Lowell days off and to get some playing time at first?  After analyzing this trade, it was my understanding that Kotsay has been on the DL and the Sox simply wanted to make sure we had another utility first baseman.  Thinking about it a little more, this might be another Sean Casey situation.  Last year we acquired Mark Kotsay when we already had Sean Casey as our utility first baseman.  Casey found his playing time dwindling as each day passed until eventually we rarely saw him.  I personally didn’t understand it, considering Casey was putting up good numbers and was a decent first baseman. 

With LaRoche, he’s displayed decent numbers that are strikingly similar to Varitek’s:

Player                   BA                          HR                          RBI

LaRoche               .247                        12                           40

Varitek                 .230                        13                           39

So maybe the guy isn’t going to be the answer to our offensive woes.  But he does seem to be a guy that I wouldn’t mind seeing at first base over Kotsay. 

Another point about Mark – sure, he can play the outfield, but then what about Baldelli?

Player                   BA                          HR                          RBI

Kotsay                  .271                        1                              5

Baldelli                  .266                        5                              15

In fairness to Kotsay, he has played eleven less games than Rocco.  Still, Francona seems to prefer to give New England native Baldelli more playing time.  Can’t say I disagree with him. 

So this may be goodbye for awhile, Kotsay.  I can’t say I ever had a quarrel with you (other than when Casey didn’t get any playing time at the end of 2008), but it seems like the Sox may be making a move for the better.  Still, that’s not very fair to you.  What a business this is.  In any case, thanks for all your help and I hope you still get some at bats. 

Keep the Faith.