Saving the service time?  Come on, that's not even a factor here.  Richar's arb clock is already ticking and his service time from here on out should be on the extreme back burner in arguments for and against playing him.  

Anyways, you're right that this argument is officialy moot until Richar is healthy.

I take it you think, regardless of cost, that Uribe will produce more than Richar this year.  And furthermore, that this production gain this year will be worth it as the Sox are close enough to contention that it will matter?

Those are two assumptions I'm not ready to make, especially the latter.

we'll see if i get over there. there's quite an eclectic crew for these but well attended. they get tiresome sometimes, though, especially this time of year because you've got all these fantasy guys asking each panelist for who they should pick in their drafts. i walked out of one a few years ago after literally the 6th person asked x player v. y player - who should i draft?

at any rate, explain it however you want. maybe he was seeing lefties better that year. my point was that's the difference between 2005 and the last two years. and that difference against just left-handers isn't going to be attributable to his weight, whatever it was.