Predictions And Projections VI

Sports Illustrated:

Regular Season Power Rankings (Top 10):

Yankees
Angels
Red Sox
Dodgers
Mets
Cardinals
Cleveland
Tigers
Blue Jays
Atlanta

AL East: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles, Devil Rays
Other Divisions: Cleveland, Angels, Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers
Wild Cards: Red Sox, Atlanta
ALDS: Yankees over Cleveland; Angels over Red Sox
NLDS: Dodgers over Atlanta; Mets over Cardinals
ALCS: Angels over Yankees
NLCS: Dodgers over Mets
WS: Angels over Dodgers

In SI's "Consider This: a modest proposal..." for the Sox, they suggest batting JD Drew second, not Kevin Youkilis:

"Youkilis brings a high OBP and patience to the job, but as a slow righthanded hitter he's a double-play liability. Drew is faster and as a lefthanded batter is more apt to take advantage of a hole created by the opposing team holding Lugo on first base. More simply, Drew's a better hitter than Youkilis. The idea is to get the best players the most at bats. The difference between batting fifth and batting second is more than 50 plate appearances in a full season. If Drew gets those rather than Youkilis, the Red Sox will score more runs."

I like the idea of having Drew #2 -- I proposed a Yook-Drew 1-2 over the winter, if I recall -- but that would mean there's a less potent bat behind Manny. But I'm not going to get too worked up over Francona's batting order, though I do hope that if Varitek struggles again, he gets dropped to 8th.