Payton Wants Out

Jay does not feel Boston is Payton's place. The Herald's Michael Silverman writes that Payton spoke "with disappointment but without animosity" about his role as the Sox 4th outfielder.

There's probably a half a dozen other teams, a dozen other teams, I could be playing for. Actually, as far as playing time, this is one of the worst situations I can be in because if I'm hitting .800 I still wouldn't be playing any more than I am right now ...

It has nothing to do with Boston or the team - it's a great team. If it were different circumstances, if I were 36 or 37, I'd love to be the fourth outfielder on this team. But I'm not. I'm 32, somewhat in the prime of my career, making more money than I've ever made this year and I'm sitting on the bench for the first time in my career. ...

It's a double-edged sword. You want to win, but you also need to take care of your own personal being, so to speak. Right now, we're winning a little bit, but as far as my personal career goes, it is in a bad situation as far as getting to play.

Although generally thought of as a platoon partner for Trot Nixon, Payton has actually faced RHP almost as often as LHP.

       AB+BB AVG   OBP   SLG
v LHP   60  .273  .328  .436
v RHP   52  .229  .288  .375
Total       .252  .310  .408

Payton has hit very well this month (7-for-19). Unless Theo gets knocked over by a deal (a deal for a middle reliever, possibly packaged with Embree?), Payton will probably stick around until at least July. He might get a little more playing time, though I'm not sure he's playing well enough to warrant many more AB. And Nixon is doing pretty good against lefties, anyway.

v LHP
        AVG   OBP   SLG
Payton .273  .328  .436
Nixon  .320  .414  .320

Pawtucket's Chip Ambres (.328/.436/.566) is probably the best in-house bet as another 4th outfielder.

Stan Grossfeld talks to the happy people who sit in "the worst seats at Fenway." ... Two notebooks on what's going on in the farm system.

Pirates at Fenway:

Friday: Wade Miller (5.03) / Josh Fogg (4.33), 7:00
Saturday: Tim Wakefield (4.80) / Dave Williams (4.06), 7:00
Sunday: Matt Clement (3.76) / Kip Wells (3.83), 2:00