Wedge:  I just felt better going with Nixon.  He's been putting together a lot of quality ABs, and it seemed like Verlander was going to be tough to get to.

Shapiro:  Oh, okay, just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.

[awkward silence]

Shapiro:  So, listen, not to question the call or anything, but when exactly are you going to use Marte?

Wedge:  Well, I like the kid, he's an option.  But I'm just not feeling like he's my best option on a lot of days, at least not until he gets his bat going.  Casey looks good at third, and Nixon's moving around a lot better lately out there, so that factors in.

Shapiro:  Uh-huh.

Wedge:  But mostly, I just feel like I want Nixon in the lineup, the kind of ABs he's putting in there, maybe if he's slowing down or once Marte get warmed up and starts swinging the bat better.

Shapiro:  Well, you know, that's the thing, how's he going to get warmed up if we can't find any ABs for him?

Wedge:  Yeah, that's a problem, but I'm just putting my best lineup out there, that's all.  I can't see worrying about him warming up when we've got ballgames to win.

Shapiro:  So basically, you're going to start Marte, like, once a week.

Wedge:  Yeah, like I said, maybe more once he gets warmed up, we'll see how Nixon's holding up.  Probably not much this week.  Don't see us coming up against too many lefties anyway.  I gotta think we want Trot out there in Boston either way.

Shapiro:  Yeah, that's a ballpark for lefties, too.  I can't say I'd feel great about Marte coming up in some big situation in Fenway.  It's a bit much, and he hasn't really settled in yet to begin with.

Wedge:  That's about what I'm thinking.

Shapiro:  You want to see if we can get his bat going in Buffalo?  Would that make it a better situation for you?  I'm not crazy about doing that, and we'd need to make clear he hadn't done anything wrong.  But I just don't see him getting settled in at the plate if he's on the bench.

Wedge:  Well, you know before I was feeling like I should put Casey in there if that was going to come up.  Now, it's more like Casey's already in there, he's in right, and now I've got Nixon on the bench, so if I send in Nixon for Marte in that situation, now they're going for the lefty.

Shapiro:  Right.  So what I'm hearing here is mainly that you don't feel like putting Marte in there is going to be the best thing, most of the time.  Maybe ever.

Wedge:  Well, like I said, I like the kid, he just hasn't gotten it going, and the other guys are going great.

Shapiro:  So is there any downside to pulling him?  Are you going to come up with a situation where you're wishing you could go to him.

Wedge:  Some situation, sure, it could come up.  But we've got some pretty good other guys to go to if that's what we need to do.  We're pretty well covered.

Shapiro:  You know who we could get is Perez, he's available now.  Especially with the lefty situation in Boston.  And we probably need to be a little worried about racking up some big innings in the bullpen, what with the guys we're starting up there.  It could be a problem.

Wedge:  I like Perez.

Shapiro:  You really weren't going to give Marte any ABs, were you.

Wedge:  No, I wasn't.

Shapiro:  Okay, then, it's settled.  Wish you'd been more upfront about this a week ago, though.  Now all those genius blog people are going to think I'm an idiot.

To me, the problem isn't that we shouldn't start Marte, it's that we shouldn't stop starting Garko and Blake.  My issue is the deference given Nixon, whom Wedge has not replaced with a righty pinch-hitter all season, and who has gotten far too many starts against LHP even if it's only five (a guess).

So to me, the win-now problem is that we should have Marte in there rather than Nixon sometimes.  But the develop-Marte problem is that even that kind of usage probably will hinder his development more than playing everyday for Buffalo.