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I totally agree. The Red Sox cannot afford to get off to an extremely slow start in April, especially since the AL East is particularly loaded this year. They need to stay in contention right out of the gate if they want avoid having a playoff spot stolen from them.

You just can't keep him in the lineup considering how good the east is this year. I think Lowell would serve as an excellent and inexpensive replacement (not exactly salary wise, but acquisition cost wise), and lets face it, Lowell is a much better hitter at this stage of the game.

That being said, what to do with big-roidy...
Possible Suggestions:
-Trade him for Pat Burrell (equally as bad)
-have a hot dog eating contest every game; whoever can out-eat big papi gets a free t-shirt
-make him the highest paid beer guy in history
-sell him to Japan -ala- Darrell Rasner
-get him back on the juice

Obviously I'm not a huge Ortiz fan, but he's done. As a Yankee fan, I hope Red Sox management gives him all year to figure it out (or, conversely, it takes management all year to figure out he's done)

he's fine, perhaps periodic days off against lefties as long as Lowell is around.
avg HR RBI
Papi : .154 0 2
Teix : .097 0 4

small sampling and obviously will end up at different places when the season is over but both are significantly important to their lineups.

If you've ever played sports, no matter what sport, you always hope to get off to a decent (not terrible) start. The pressure mounts the longer it goes.

Steve, thank you for your admittedly back-handed suggestions.

I will take issue about your contention that Lowell is a much better hitter at this point. Ortiz did do some, some damage last year while Lowell was nothing special. Ortiz posted a .794 ops and Lowell a .811.

And if you take June though the end of the year, Ortiz won easily.

After eight 2010 at bats for Lowell, he is 2-8 with no extra base hits, runs or rbi. Better than Ortiz, but not by much.

I'm probably falling for your bait, but that's my 2 cents.

Andy, I would agree that David had a better season (or past three seasons) than Lowell. And there's no denying the fact that Lowell is two years older, but David has lost his bat speed. He can't get to the inside pitch and good pitchers will exploit that. This is best evidenced by his sub .230 batting average last year.
Lowell on the other hand has been dealing with a serious hip injury that has effectively spanned the bast two seasons. Now healthy (or at least healthier) he should be able to return to being a difficult out. I watched them both at the end of last year, and even then I would have taken gimpy Lowell over David.
I was forced to watch Jason Giambi play that role in his final few seasons in pinstripes. They both lost their bat speed when they went off the juice and were unable to cover the inside of the plate. Once that's gone, it's hard to stay an effective major leaguer. (Tex may be hitting for a lower average, but I haven't seen any opposing teams put their 2B in right field when he's at bat) I'm not saying Lowell is the answer, just that he is better for their lineup than David (now if only Lowell was left handed, or conversely, if only JD Drew wasn't terrible)