1. Yes to Doc's point about Smith/Rodney. If (IF!) Lloyd is going to mix and match Smith to face the better lineup i the 8th or 9th, then I'm all in with using he and Rodney interchangeably as the closer. It has yet to be proven that such is Lloyd's intention, however.
2. Yes to Doc's point about Zunino. Great reference to Varitek!
3. Yes/Yes to Rick's points about Zunino/Smoak/Montero. They were not ruined by getting to the bigs early. They simply had flaws that were/have been exposed. Those flaws would have likely been exposed even if they had two more years of bashing AAA chuckers.
4. A bonus Yes to Doc's mention of Ichiro. Two days ago (just before heading out on a steelhead trip) I nearly proposed we get Ichiro (he will be pretty cheap) and use him in LF as a cack-handed platoon in LF. He's ripped lefties to the tune of .300+ the last 3 years. And he would bring a winning presence.