I totally get what you are saying, Martinez is valuable no matter where you play him and it sucks that as a catcher, playing time has to be limited. Using hte last two year for him as an example, a move to 1B would place him a bit above average (about 7th-12th of 23*). Kind of an Overbay with a higher average. As a 3B, he'd be higher in the rankings (probably 5-8 of 23), similar to Lowell in his prime. But 3B is much more demanding defensively (compared to 1B) and in a different way than C, if he ends up like Glaus out there it isn't worth it.
Is Hafner a terrible fielding 1B? I checked his fielding stats and they seemed fine but he's played 4 years and almost never done anything besides 1b. What about moving Hafner to 1b and letting Martinez split time between DH and C? DH's are a lot easier to find, just pick up a LH guy to DH and Martinez can DH against all LHPs. With an occasional day off that would give him enough rest and give Shoppach some ABs as well.
Oh well, who knows what is happening now,
Mota failed his physical. Mota was already an injury risk, did Boston get a full phyical as well or did they just rely on Florida's doctors?
Check out this tidbit in the article:
Quote:
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So it's also possible that, with the firing of Reds GM Dan O'Brien, the Indians and Red Sox will attempt to revive their much-discussed three-way trade with Cincinnati that would have sent Kearns to Cleveland, Crisp to Boston and Matt Clement to Cincinnati. It was O'Brien who killed the most recent version of that one last week.
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If O'Brien really passed on getting Clement for Kearns he really deserved to be fired. He'd do very well back in the NL. I can't believe Bos wants to trade Clement at all. I wish AZ had a descent CF or SS they could trade for Clement.
*Only a little more than 20 player have enough ABs to qualify each year